SF: Woman on hospital trolley for eight days

Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe has said the Táinaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney has failed to grasp the fundamental issues at the heart of the crisis in our hospitals.

Deputy Crowe, speaking after the Irish Nurses Organisation revealed that a record 422 patients were on trolleys said: "What is needed is a capital investment programme for our hospitals to provide more beds and additional staff."

"Today I received a call from a personal friend of mine who informed me that she has been on a hospital trolley in Tallaght hospital for the last eight days.

"This woman is in a serious condition with a blood clot on her lung, a suspected blood clot in her leg and with serious heart problems.

"She informed me that there has been up to fifty people on trolleys each day in Tallaght for the last eight days with only two working toilets and two working showers and there is little or no privacy for patients.

"Tallaght hospital is ideally situated for an extension with acres of land available on site available to be built on. And money should not be a problem with an unexpected extra in tax of €2.5bn in the Government coffers this year.

"This is in an appalling situation in our hospitals four years after the problem was first highlighted. The Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney and the HSE have obviously failed to grasp the fundamental issue at the heart of this crisis in our hospitals."