Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has said that we cannot leave people on waiting lists for months and years at a time when they need medical treatment and that the Government must use Budget 2022 to drive money into targeted areas of the health service to seriously tackle waiting lists and overcrowding.

Teachta Crowe said:

“The health service is struggling to keep pace with demand from planned and emergency patient care. And not just during Covid, the problems in accessing care for existed long before the pandemic landed on our shores.

“There are more than 900,000 people on waiting lists in this State. That means almost 1 in 5 people are on a waiting list of some form for healthcare.

“There are 36,000 people on the outpatient waiting lists of Tallaght University Hospital. 12,000 of them have been waiting more than 18 months. And don’t let the Government blame Covid for the rise in waiting lists. Waiting lists may be up 15% since the beginning of the pandemic but they have almost doubled since 2014.

“It is unacceptable that sick people who require urgent care are left in limbo for years waiting to see a hospital consultant. Without urgently hiring key healthcare staff to fill posts, these problems are only going to get worse.

“The health service is not fit for purpose and needs major investment to boost capacity if it is to tackle waiting lists. The Government must use Budget 2022 to drive money into targeted areas of the health service to seriously tackle waiting lists and overcrowding. They will say that it’s the biggest budget ever for health, just like they do every year. It is their stock answer to any criticism.

“It is irrelevant because the population grows every year. We need to spend more every year just to stand still. That is why we need targeted investment in key areas. Simply throwing money at the problem will not work.

“We need the delivery of a major increase in beds, staff, and diagnostic capacity to meet current needs and tackle waiting lists. We must introduce a centralised referral systems and an integrated waiting list management system.

“We cannot leave people on waiting lists for months and years at a time when they need medical treatment. We cannot consign them to a life of pain and suffering when we had the means and opportunity to fix the health service.”