Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Once again, I raise the issue of University Hospital Limerick, UHL. Thanks to my colleague, Deputy Maurice Quinlivan, we found out that in the first 120 days of this year, the full emergency protocol was used on 118 days. In other words, there were only two days in the first four months of the year that it was not used. What does the full emergency protocol mean? It means that elective procedures have to be cancelled and there is what I would call aggressive discharging of patients. The hospital is in utter crisis, not occasionally, sometimes or just through the winter months but almost every day that it is in operation. It is painful to think of the impact this has on patients and their families, coupled with the horrendous statistics regarding patients on trolleys. I see that 73 patients were languishing on trolleys in the hospital this morning. That is a relatively good number, believe it or not, even though it is horrific and should never be acceptable but only a couple of weeks ago we had 116 patients languishing on trolleys. Nurses have taken industrial action and are operating a work to rule in the hospital. The nursing staff complement is at 75% of what it should be but the nurses are dealing with 100% of the emergency beds. They have not been listened to, and nor have Sinn Féin and the various patient groups. We fully support the nurses in their industrial action. When is the Minister for Health going to take responsibility for this crisis? He is ultimately responsible.

Deputy Quinlivan and I have pointed out on numerous occasions that there is a serious problem with senior management in the hospital regarding their capacity and ability to deliver. The Minister for Health has never dealt with that issue. We need a multi-annual plan because even when we get the additional beds that are planned in the system, we will still be 200 beds short. We need to expedite those beds. We need a multi-annual plan that will actually deliver the beds across the coming years to ensure we finally get over this crisis. We also need to deliver on the staff shortage. Right now, the staff are voting with their feet and leaving. This is an abject failure of Government. Let us be absolutely clear on that. It is the only way we can describe it. It is an abject failure that the emergency protocol has been used on 118 out of 120 days. Where is the Minister for Health? The last time he came to this House he was in denial about the number of patients on hospital trolleys. He quoted the official figures, which everyone knows are just not correct. We stand with the nurses and patients. I ask for an emergency debate on this issue because it cannot go on any longer. We have had years of failure both under the previous Government and now under this present one. We need immediate change and the Minister for Health needs to be held accountable now.