Dublin South West TD, Seán Crowe, has said that all indicators suggest that the trolley crisis in our hospitals is set to multiple as winter takes hold and that the amount of patients forced to wait on trollies this year is set to reach a record 100,000.

The Sinn Féin TD said that it is clear that the Minister for Health doesn’t fully grasp the trolley crisis, particularly if he doesn’t see that the trolley crisis and the nursing recruitment and retention crisis are interlinked.

Crowe’s comments come after the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) released figures showing that over 9,000 patients were forced to wait on trolleys and chairs for hospital beds in the month of October.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“The trolley crisis has been continued to escalate under Simon Harris’s tenure as the Minister for Health. Last year saw the largest number of patients on trolleys in recorded history and this year we will unfortunately pass the 100,000 mark.

“The INMO have released figures that show over 9,000 patients were forced to wait on trolleys and chairs for hospital beds in the month of October. Unprecedented numbers combined with no new initiatives will inevitably mean the crisis will continue and escalate.

“It is clear that the current Minister for Health doesn’t fully grasp the trolley crisis, as he doesn’t seem to understand that the trolley crisis and the nursing recruitment and retention crisis are interlinked.

“Issues of recruitment and retention of staff have plagued the health service in recent years. Bed capacity, including a failure to reopen closed beds, inadequate step down facilities, the roll out of primary and community care, are all impacting on the trolley crisis as well.

“Surely if the Minister cannot see that the trolley crisis and the nursing recruitment and retention crisis are interlinked then he doesn’t really have any understanding of the trolley crisis that is impacting so negatively on patients and staff in our hospitals.

“In January this year, the Oireachtas passed a motion advocating solutions to resolve the trolley crisis, but the government have so far failed to make any attempt to implement the radical proposals.

“Unfortunately it looks like again like new records of patients on chair and trolley numbers with the numbers rising to over 100,000 this year.”

ENDS