Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators who tabled the motion and those who have spoken during the debate. This is a constructive motion. I have listened carefully to the ideas that have come forward in respect of what needs to be done. I share the concerns that have been raised about some aspects of urgent and emergency care in the mid-west. Those concerns do not only apply to the mid-west. There are concerns in Cork, Galway, parts of Dublin and Letterkenny. There are concerns around the country. However, we are talking specifically about the mid-west and University Hospital Limerick. I want to say clearly that having people on trolleys and waiting for ward beds for long periods after admission is unacceptable. The numbers in Limerick have been far too high, particularly in respect of those who are waiting for a long time and particularly when it comes to elderly people or patients who are more frail or sick. It is unacceptable. It is not something that our healthcare providers want. It is not something that anyone in the Oireachtas wants.

I have visited University Hospital Limerick several times. I have been in the emergency department several times. I have met patients and their families. I have been in many emergency departments around the country because I wanted to see and hear first-hand what was happening, what was working and what was not working, and what was being experienced.What we are seeing in Ireland is being seen across Europe. We had three particularly bad days several weeks ago. Some of the high numbers over the winter are due in part to the unprecedented combination of Covid-19, flu and RSV, which is causing emergency department pressures, not only in Ireland but also in some of the best resourced and best-run healthcare systems in Europe. We need to be conscious of that context. However, regardless of the pressures this or any winter, it is simply unacceptable to see this number of patients waiting on trolleys for admission to hospital. It is not a new problem but it is a problem we must and can solve.

I met with the emergency department, ED, task force earlier today and we discussed various ways this can be addressed, not as a winter issue but in terms of access to urgent and emergency care. Last summer the figures were far too high. As I said to the ED task force, my Department and the HSE, this is not about solving a winter problem. This is about ensuring we have an urgent and emergency care service that gets people the care they need throughout the year. We will do additional things in the winter when we are dealing with the extra pressures.

Demand for care, including urgent and emergency care, is growing. We know that. While our public health service and governments have tried to respond to this for many years, there has been a deficit in capacity. Our public health providers have been trying to respond to growing demand without the toolkit or firepower they needed in terms of beds, diagnostics, workforce, community care and many other things. What are we doing about that? This Government is responding in a completely unprecedented way in fundamentally increasing the capacity of our public health services. We have added nearly 1,000 hospital beds, more than 360 community beds and 65 critical care beds, and we have increased the HSE's workforce by more than 17,000 people. That is thousands of additional nurses, doctors, dentists, healthcare assistants and many other healthcare providers. It is not enough. We are addressing deficits that have been building up over many years, but we are addressing them and we are doing so more quickly. We are building capacity in the system more quickly than it has ever been done.

There is much talk about recruitment crises and finding it hard to get healthcare professionals. That is true across the world, and in some hospitals and specialties it is also true in Ireland, but in fact this year will be the fourth year in a row of record recruitment into our public health service, the HSE. We need to recognise the level of Government commitment to the matter of public resources and the response of the HSE in hiring people.

In the context of today's debate, I have engaged extensively with the University Limerick Hospitals Group about the pressures being dealt with there. Many Senators were at a meeting I convened for Oireachtas Members with the hospital group, which the Taoiseach also attended. It was an important and constructive meeting and I took a lot away from it.

We know that part of the solution is more capacity in the hospitals and, critically, in the community. I will talk first about the capacity that has already been invested in UHL and the UL hospital group. As per the motion, a new emergency department was put in place in recent years. We have heard calls for more beds. What does not get covered very often is that, since Covid-19 started, there are 150 additional beds in the group, 132 of which are in UHL. The workforce and consultants in UHL have said they need more beds. We agree. We have already added 132 beds. I also turned the sod recently on another 96-bed block. That is a lot of additional beds. The leadership in Limerick has said more staff are needed. Again since Covid, the workforce in UHL has increased by 1,000 healthcare professionals. That is a huge increase.

I apologise, I do not know what the protocol is. I can keep going for a few minutes, but when the bell stops, I will have to go to the Dáil to vote. I apologise to the Chair and Senators.