Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will begin by welcoming the support shown by the Oireachtas for the Irish Cancer Society and breast cancer awareness month. I support its Care for Your Pair campaign, which applies, as the Deputy Leader said, to men and women. It is important that we support that campaign. I commend all of those involved with BreastCheck and the Irish Cancer Society on the major work they do. I commend those in BreastCheck on the extraordinary work that has been carried out on behalf of the women of Ireland. I support Senator Chambers regarding the campaign relating to maternity leave.

I ask the Leader to bring the Minister for Health before the House to discuss the crisis in our emergency departments. In Cork University Hospital in September, there were 1,260 patients on trolleys. This is the worst figure in the 16 years of trolley watch by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. Last Wednesday, 88 people were on trolleys. Why is this happening? Is it just a result of bed capacity? Is it down to mismanagement by hospital authorities regarding emergency departments? Is it because of the volume of people coming into emergency departments? Is it to do with work practices within our hospitals? Is it to do with free GP care in the community, or with the fact that the GPs are no longer as accessible as they were, and now more people are coming in?

There is something fundamentally wrong when 1,260 people in the month of September were on trolleys in Cork University Hospital. I support my colleague, Deputy Colm Burke, who expressed the need for the matter of an elective hospital for Cork to be expedited. A new elective hospital has been promised. The work around its decision-making process has almost concluded, but, we still have no site. I believe it should be on the western side of the city, by Curraheen, adjacent to Marymount University Hospital and Hospice in Cork. The Deputy is of a different viewpoint. However, what we do share is a joint belief that this new elective hospital must be fast-tracked in order to alleviate the issues relating to capacity in Cork. I hope that the Minister for Health will come to the House to discuss the two important issues of emergency departments and bed capacity. I look forward to that debate.