Mairéad Farrell

Overall sentiment: -0.04
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Having listened to what the Minister of State said here today, it seems quite clear to me that there is no will from Government to change this. The reality is that this is affecting real people's lives as it does day and day out and as it does today while people are waiting to have procedures and consultations. We are talking about people waiting in the emergency department in Galway University Hospital for the care they so desperately need. It also affects those people who want to provide that care. If we take Galway as an example, we can see that 6,000 people are waiting over six months for procedures. There are 20,000 people waiting over six months for a consultation. This is a huge number of people in Galway who are waiting to get the basic healthcare they need. A key issue coming into my office involves people coming in who have been waiting for the pain clinic. Imagine having to wait to get this help for pain. You are getting older, you are in massive pain and you have to come into an office to speak to someone like me because you are trying to get help for that pain. That is wrong. It should not be like that. It should be that if you need healthcare, you get that healthcare but instead so many people are coming into our offices who are not getting this care. Then there is the issue of people waiting for dental care. We always get a mother ringing us desperately saying her child needs some type of dental care, it is urgent and it is affecting the child going to school or being able to eat but she is being told that her child cannot get the dental care they need. One of the things I really wanted to raise involves emergency departments. As somebody who has visited people in the emergency department of late, I know that the overcrowding is unbelievable and outrageous. We have had many campaigns, including a strong campaign relating to people presenting with mental health issues going to accident and emergency and not being in an appropriate setting. I do not think it is an appropriate setting either for people receiving chemotherapy who are advised that if they go into their local shop, they need to wear a face mask, yet they are spending hours overnight on a trolley in accident and emergency. That does not make sense. I do not know if anybody can make that make sense but that is wrong. I have contacted Galway University Hospital about this. It told me that it is under huge pressure and its staff are under huge pressure. If it does not seem to be able to come to me with a satisfactory answer, I will bring it to the Minister of State. I would like him to raise that issue with the HSE because that is wrong. I will contact the Minister of State directly. Given the impact of overcrowding, we need to look at rural areas and how they can assist. I raised the nine beds in Áras Mhic Dara with the Minister of State and I know he hoped to meet with the HSE about that. Perhaps he has an update. I thank Deputy Cullinane for bringing forward this Bill, particularly during the winter and at Christmas time when so many people have the flu and other bugs and end up in our hospitals, are in hospital over Christmas or are waiting for a pain clinic. Christmas is always a time when there is a focus. It is deeply unfortunate that the Minister of State is not supporting this Bill. I hope he reconsiders that but I hope he can follow up on those key issues I mentioned.

Sentiment score: -0.04