Kenny calls for immediate response to A&E crisis

THE Government should bring together consultants, GPs, nurses and other key health sector staff to hammer out immediate short-term responses to the A&E crisis.

The call came yesterday from Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who claimed the Government’s record on the matter was one of dismal failure.

Tánaiste Mary Harney’s so-called 10-point plan to tackle the crisis was not working, he told the Dáil.

“The Tánaiste told us in 2004 we would see improvements by March 2005.

“In January 2005, she said there would be significant improvements by the end of that year. She now seems to have abandoned any work on A&E units, deciding instead to focus her energies elsewhere.

“The situation is getting worse every week and the Government has failed to deal with it,” Mr Kenny said.

He pointed out that there were 392 people on trolleys or chairs in A&E departments countrywide last Tuesday, an 80% increase on the same date last year.

“Does the Taoiseach have any idea of the discomfort and indignity being suffered by such people on a daily basis as a consequence of the Government’s incompetence?” Mr Kenny asked.

Defending the Government’s record, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern insisted huge improvements had taken place since April 2005, including new facilities at St Vincent’s University Hospital, James Connolly Memorial Hospital and the Mater Hospital in Dublin.

“It is not true to say the Tánaiste’s 10-point plan has delivered nothing one year on because the facilities I have mentioned have opened and are in daily operation. It is true, however, to say there are people on waiting lists and on trolleys in a number of hospitals because the figures are published every day and every week,” said the Taoiseach, stressing the matter was being addressed.

Approximately 1,500 beds in acute hospitals, he said, had been freed up by providing appropriate long-term care for patients in other facilities.