A nation of empty houses and empty hospital beds

Today, we have 4,000 local authority houses lying empty, while the number of families on the waiting lists, and those who are homeless, grows.

Today, we have 2,000-plus beds closed in hospitals around the country, even as we have 600-plus patients on trolleys, the worst the situation has been in the history of the State.

We have had cutbacks in hospital staff, nurses,and doctors, etc. These cuts should be reversed forthwith. Take the travelling expenses from politicians; they are all ready overpaid.

There is a serious issue around long-term planning within the Government, local authorities and HSE. This latest debacle has to be the end of the line, as regards overcrowded emergency departments. Patients have suffered too much austerity.

A professor of medicine said recently that putting elderly people on trolleys shortened their life significantly.

Michael O’Sullivan

Cahermore

Castletownbere

Cork