Political leadership needed to tackle trolley crisis

Issued : Tuesday 5 June, 2018

Labour Party Health spokesperson, Alan Kelly TD, has said that Fine Gael are incapable of fixing the trolley crisis.

This comes as INMO Trolley Watch figures show that over 9,000 people were on trolleys in our hospitals in the month of May.

Deputy Kelly said:

“It is clear now that after a seven-year hold in the Department of Health, that Fine Gael have no real plan to fix the ever-worsening crisis in our hospitals. I was appalled, but not at all surprised to read the figures published today by the INMO that over 9,000 people were on trolleys in the month of May.

“The figures published today show that over 50,000 of our citizens have been forced onto trolleys so far this year. This is a grim and stark figure and is completely unacceptable in 2018.

“It is clear now that there needs to be a radical overhaul in the Department, with the trolley crisis getting worse month on month. At what point is Minister Harris going to say enough is enough and offer some real political leadership on this issue?

“We simply have to increase bed capacity in public hospitals so that people are not lying for hours on end on trollies waiting to be seen to and amping up the pressure on already stretched hospital staff, as is currently the case. 

“All options should be explored by the Minister to deal with this crisis and we need to know what is being done right now to get people off trolleys as a matter of urgency.”