631 people on trolleys in April is completely unacceptable
Labour Party Health spokesperson, Alan Kelly TD, has described the fact that there are 631 patients waiting on a hospital bed today as unacceptable.
This comes as the INMO have confirmed that over 631 people are on trolleys today.
Deputy Kelly said:
“We are now near the middle of April, the worst of the winter flu crisis is over, but yet 631 people are on trolleys today. This is completely unacceptable.
“It is a sad state of affairs that these types of figures are not shocking people anymore.
“The INMO have not recorded a day where there has been less than 250 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.
“Yet again University Hospital Limerick has logged the highest amount of patients on trolleys. Today there are 55 people on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick, which is the most consistently overcrowded hospital in the country. This is no surprise considering a seventeen bed ward was closed in the hospital over two weeks ago in the midst of this crisis.
“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?
“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.”