06/01/2015

600 Patients On Trolleys In Hospital A&Es - INMO

Fianna Fáil is calling for the Oireachtas Committee on Health to be reconvened this week to discuss the ongoing overcrowding crisis at the country's Emergency Departments.

Figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) have revealed there are more than 600 people on trolleys in hospital A&Es, the highest number recorded since 'TrolleyWatch' began ten years ago.

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Health, Billy Kelleher, said the figures from the INMO are further evidence of the escalating crisis in Emergency Departments, which show no signs of abating.

He said: "Hundreds of patients, many of them who are elderly and frail, are being left for days on end on trolleys in A&Es, corridors and makeshift wards without privacy or dignity, as frontline staff struggle to cope without the necessary resources or support.

"The HSE itself has admitted that the crisis is raising concerns over patient safety, but Minister Leo Varadkar has remained worrying silent on the issue. His only attempt to address the issue has been the establishment of the Emergency Department Taskforce; however a committee which only meets once a month will find it difficult to tackle what has now become a daily crisis.

"I am calling on the Chairman of the Oireachtas Health Committee to urgently convene a meeting to discuss the crisis which is engulfing every Emergency Department in the country and putting patients at risk. Minister Varadkar must be brought before the committee to outline how he and HSE management propose to resolve the issues."

(CD/JP)

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