Dáil hears of woman, 78, with heart failure left on hospital chair for 24 hours

In response, Darragh O’Brien said 970 new acute beds had been opened since 2020

Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty said: “Whether it is our mother, grandmother, or grandparents, we should never tolerate the fact that a woman was left in hospital suffering from cardiac problems for 24 hours on a chair and not even given a bed.” File picture

A 78-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with heart failure was left on a hospital chair for 24 hours, the Dáil has been told.

Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty made the comments at Leaders’ Questions, where he raised recently-released figures which showed nearly 12,000 people waited on a hospital trolley last month. Mr Doherty told Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien that each one of those numbers is a real person and gave the example of the woman from Waterford.

“A 78-year-old woman from Waterford who suffers from cardiac issues had to wait 24 hours for a hospital bed. Her daughter left her at the hospital the day before and she called her mother at 3pm the following day.

“Her mother told her on the phone that she had been diagnosed with heart failure. That 78-year-old woman was still in the same chair in which her daughter had left her the day before.  It is absolutely disgraceful how our people are treated in this State under the policies of this Government. 

Her daughter spoke of how her mother did not even have access to a trolley, how she was not able to get any sleep the night before, take any rest, or take the weight off her hips or her back.

Mr Doherty added that it was "happening under this Government’s watch". He said people waiting on trolleys is “a national scandal that has plagued the State for over two decades now”.

In response, Mr O’Brien said 970 new acute beds had been opened since 2020 and the Government has allocated €23.6bn to the health budget for this year.

“That is an extra €5.6bn and 32% over the original net budget allocation for 2020. These are the facts of what Government is doing. More than 20,000 net additional staff have been hired into our health service since the beginning of 2020.

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“This includes 6,281 nurses and midwives, 3,177 health and social care professionals, and 1,948 doctors and dentists.

“These are the real facts. In the three years since the Government has come in, 2020, 2021, and 2022 have seen the biggest staff increases in the HSE since it was established. Those are the facts. That is what is being done and 2023 continues to show extremely large increases in that space.”

Mr Doherty said the situation is “not acceptable”.

“Whether it is our mother, grandmother, or grandparents, we should never tolerate the fact that a woman was left in hospital suffering from cardiac problems for 24 hours on a chair and not even given a bed.”