Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is always nice to see the Minister of State but I have to be honest, I am more than disappointed that, once again, the Minister for Health has decided not to turn up. I do not know if the Minister of State is familiar with the Coen brothers movie of 2001, "The Man Who Wasn't There". It is a great movie - the Coen brothers always deliver. Perhaps they should write a sequel, "The Minister Who Wasn't There." Frankly, I can only assume it is because of embarrassment that he has, for the second time now, declined to come to the House for a Commencement matter to talk about University Hospital Limerick, UHL. Equally, I have to share with the Minister of State that my colleague, Deputy Quinlivan, is having exactly the same experience regarding Topical Issues.It is particularly disappointing this week because, as the Minister of State may know, a new record was set with 130 patients on trolleys last Monday. Just when we thought it could not possibly get any worse, it continues to do so. I do not know whether he has seen the video posted by the Sunday Worldof the emergency department. We can see patients stacked up in the corridors, one on top of another, right the way through, outside the emergency department and inside. We can see doctors and nurses frantically trying to calm down patients who are in obvious distress because of the fact they are completely stranded without a bed.

The record of the Government is, frankly, appalling with regard to the failures at UHL. There is a record of 12 years of Fine Gael failure in government with regard to UHL. I assure the Minister of State that the people of Limerick will not forget this. It beggars belief as we head into another winter that we are said to have worse figures again this year. Last year. 18,000 patients were on trolleys at UHL. We are already set to beat that appalling record this year. In October, as of last Monday, there have been 1,632 patients on trolleys. The same time last year there had been just over 1,200. There has been a 30% increase on patients on trolleys.

The Minister of State will really appreciate that the trouble with figures is that they do not give any insight into the pain, distress and lost lives. We know from research conducted in the UK that for every 82 patients on trolleys for more than eight hours, there is one death. We can take it from this that each day, at least one life is being lost unnecessarily in UHL. This week there was a telling interview with the INMO official, Mary Fogarty. In exasperation, she called for a halt to all elective procedures because of the impossible conditions that her members, the nurses, are put under at UHL. The same extends to healthcare assistants, porters and all of the other vital staff in the hospital.

This is compounded by the fact that the Minister for Health was thrown under the bus by the Minister for Finance just two weeks ago in the budget, with a large deficit for the health system and a freeze on recruitment. As healthcare assistants decide to leave UHL, they will not be able to be replaced. I know some of them who have left because of the appalling conditions there. How on earth will we get through this winter? Last winter the system entirely collapsed. Shannondoc collapsed and the whole system collapsed. I was going to ask the Minister for Health, and I hope the Minister of State will have some answers on his behalf this morning, what particular interactions is he planning to make sure we do not have a repeat of this crisis as we head into another winter.

I remind the Minister of State that we have been told by the HSE that the 96-bed unit promised to be delivered next year will not be ready until 2025. This will only deliver an additional 48 beds because 48 existing beds will be phased out. Even when we have this unit, which is at least two winters away, there will still be a large deficit in beds. We are 200 beds short. This is a failure of planning and a failure of capacity. It is always at the expense of the people of Limerick. I look forward to the response from the Minister of State.