Trolley numbers unacceptable

Issued : Tuesday 19 February, 2019

Labour Party Health spokesperson, Alan Kelly TD, has described the numbers of people on trolleys in our emergency departments and wards as unacceptable.

This comes as the INMO have confirmed that over 512 people are on trolleys today.

 Deputy Kelly said:

 “With the worst of the winter flu crisis now over, it is not is unacceptable that over 512 people are on trolleys today. 

“The INMO have not recorded a day so far this year where there has been less than 350 people on trolleys. We should not have to accept these kind of figures as the new normal.

“Excessive trolley numbers like these are not acceptable to patients, their families or those who have to work in these conditions.

“Today there are 69 people on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick, which is the most consistently overcrowded hospital in the country. The Government promised that a 60 bed modular unit would open in UHL by the end of this year, now it will not be open until the middle of 2020 at least, meaning patients and staff will have to go through another winder in unacceptable conditions.

“How many more health projects will be pushed back or not happen at all because of the National Children’s Hospital? Savings to cover this overrun won’t have to be found this year, cost-cutting exercises will continue for the next three years at least.

“We know that there are plenty of solutions to the now year round trolley crisis - more home help hours, community intervention teams, more beds. The solutions are there, they’ve been presented to the Minister for Health so many times but he continues to ignore this problem.

“Our citizens deserve better. They deserve to be treated in a safe manner.”