I thank Deputy Bacik. Like Deputy Bacik, the first thing I want to do is offer my condolences to the family of the lady. A three-hour wait is simply not acceptable. I would like to get more details of the specific case, if the Deputy does not mind.
Sentiment score: 0.23
The issue of trolleys and congestion in hospitals, particularly at weekends, is an absolute priority for me. I will be bringing a series of data points to Cabinet on this next week. There are two issues - I am happy to discuss them with all Deputies - namely those relating to underlying capacity and work practices. Even in the very short period that I have been the Minister for Health, I have seen considerable problems across hospitals on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holiday Mondays. Different hospitals manage matters differently, but this is a matter of major concern for me. I am happy to speak to all Deputies on this, directly and very soon.
Sentiment score: 0.20
I thank the Deputy for her question. I will be bringing the second iteration of the waiting list action plan to Cabinet this week. The first iteration brought waiting times down from an average of 13 months to seven. We have further to go in order to reach our Sláintecare targets. As I said to Deputy Bacik, there are two issues here. One is about moving people out of the general hospital system to surgical hubs, the first of which will open this week, and dealing with waiting times. The other relates to weekends. In the context of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda, the number of people on trolleys on the Tuesday after the bank holiday weekend was 43. On Wednesday last, there were 39 people on trolleys. On Thursday, the number was 28. It was down to 21 on both Friday and Saturday. The number was back up to 45 after the weekend. This is not unique to Drogheda. Other hospitals suffer in the same way. The corresponding figures for Waterford were zero people on trolleys all week. We have two different issues, namely weekends and the underlying capacity issue. We have to treat them differently.
Sentiment score: 0.05