Flawed Govt policy the reason for the Beaumont crisis – O’Brien

Published on: 22 January 2016


Fianna Fáil Press Office
Senator Darragh O’Brien
Dublin Fingal

22 January 2016

Flawed Govt policy the reason for the Beaumont crisis – O’Brien

Fianna Fáil Dublin Fingal candidate Senator Darragh O’Brien has warned that the Government’s flawed health policy will lead to more operations being cancelled and more people on trolleys in Beaumont Hospital.

“There are 41 people without a bed in Beaumont Hospital today. This must be a record. How can a hospital be expected to function when you have patients without a bed?”

Senator O’Brien warned that the crisis at the hospital is likely to get worse as the Government has left a €100m hole in the budget for hospitals this year.

“This is yet another example of this Government’s long list of broken promises. They said they would fix the health service, that there wouldn’t be people on trolleys and yet today there are 462 people around the country on trolleys and operations have been cancelled at hospitals all over the country.

“The December Waiting Lists published recently show that since July 2014 when Leo Varadkar became Minister for Health there was a staggering increase of 3,163 people waiting more than 12 months for an Outpatients appointment. That is an increase of over 480% and is totally unacceptable in a modern European country.

“This is not just a cause of concern for patients it is also an issue of safety for staff. How can they be expected to work in these conditions? The health service is at breaking point and there is a full scale disaster awaiting in our emergency departments,” added Senator O’Brien.

-Ends-

Connect with us



News Categories