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Press Releases

Delays at A and E Unacceptable

The news that there was a 59% increase in the number of patients waiting on trolleys at UCHG in the month of June in comparison to June 2014 is a further indication of the chaos that reigns in the health services in the western region. I am constantly trying to highlight these problems in the hope that someone in the Minister’s Department or in the HSE will take notice, but so far the situation is only getting worse. The staff at the A and E unit in UCHG are at their wits end trying to cope and they deserve better than to have to put up with these overcrowded conditions on an ongoing basis. We have also heard this week that there are hundreds of vacant consultant posts around the country as the best of our qualified doctors emigrate to countries where there are better conditions. Minister Varadkar and the HSE have to address these serious issues now. We also have the ongoing situation in Loughglynn where there is no ambulance service from there and no sign of a solution, and there are many other problems as well. As I have said repeatedly these problems have to be addressed immediately by this Government. The people of the West of Ireland deserve better.