Fine Gael continue to ignore ongoing trolley crisis

Issued : Tuesday 20 February, 2018

Labour Party Health spokesperson, Alan Kelly TD, has criticised the Government and HSE for failing to tackle the trolley crisis in our hospitals.

Deputy Kelly said:

“Six weeks after the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation recorded 677 patients on trolleys, it is scandalous that we are still seeing trolley watch figures as high as 621.

“For months opposition TDs have been telling the Minister for Health that the current situation in our Emergency Departments is unsustainable. It is unfathomable that the Minister for Health continues to ignore these warnings from fellow politicians and experts in the medical field.

“It is inexcusable that we are continuing to hear reports of high numbers of children lying on trolleys. It is bad enough that we have people on trolleys in the first place but no sick child should be forced to suffer because of the chaos in our emergency departments.

“We need to see an urgent change of tact from Fine Gael, who have held the Health portfolio for seven years. There is no point in the Minister making grandiose announcements over Twitter that all student nurses will be guaranteed a job within the HSE when they graduate if he is not prepared to open more beds.

“Instead of producing glossy, repackaged plans for capital investment in our hospitals under Ireland 2040, the Minister would be better off producing a much needed plan to look at increasing the volume of home help hours. If we are to really solve the trolley crisis, we need to seriously invest in community care and intervention teams. Our citizens deserve to be treated locally in their community instead of lying on hospital trolleys waiting to be treated.

“Those who need to use our hospitals deserve to be treated in a timely manner and provided with high quality treatment. Overcrowding in our A&Es is a symptom of a system that requires better organisation and more beds and more people.”