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.