Varadkar: Trolley crisis needs ‘number of years’ to solve

The Health Minister Leo Varadkar has said insisting it will take “a number of years” to solve the country's trolley crisis.

However Varadkar has said despite nurses saying there are 516 people on trolleys or waiting for a bed in hospitals today, there is an improvement on the situation from this time last year.

He his visiting six hospitals today to see the problems first hand and to see that those hospitals are doing everything they can to deal with the overcrowding problem.

Speaking at St James' Hospital in Dublin, Minister Varadkar again insisted the issue cannot be fixed quickly.

“The fact that we are in a better position this year than we were last year does indicate that some of the measures that have been implemented have made a difference,” said Varadkar.

“Such as additional funding for nursing homes, additional community supports (and) additional beds and staff were possible. But, that needs sustained over a number of years, not just over one or two years and that’s going to require national focus (and) that’s going to require additional resources.”