Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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7. To ask the Minister for Health if he is aware that an organisation (details supplied) stated that over 604 patients were treated without a bed in Irish hospitals on the Wednesday after the June bank holiday and that this level of overcrowding, which is now consistent and continuing into the summer, at a time when winter respiratory infections are not circulating, indicates that the system of hospital avoidance is not effective and that, at a minimum, the HSE must significantly increase the number of acute hospital beds before year-end; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25789/24]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Is féidir linn bogadh ar aghaidh go Ceist Uimh. 7 in ainm an Teachta Gino Kenny, arís.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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This is the Gino Kenny show at this stage. My next question is about the statement by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation last week on bed capacity.

More than 604 patients were being treated without a bed in Irish hospitals last week. That is completely unacceptable and is a continuous thing. We cannot have people without proper provision in our hospitals because that will have a detrimental effect on their well-being.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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On the day in question, the HSE figure was 401 patients between those in emergency departments and those in the wards. Regardless of whether we use the INMO figure or the HSE figure, both are still far too high. I met the emergency department task force earlier this week. There is a new approach we put in place last year. Many emergency departments, many patients and their families, and many of our staff are still under very significant pressure. However, I do want to acknowledge that our healthcare workers are getting on top of this. The Government has invested a lot of extra money. We have hired a lot of extra staff and added a lot of extra beds in the community and in the hospitals, but ultimately, any credit for the improvement must go to our healthcare workers. Putting aside UHL for a minute because it is entirely on its own in the increase in numbers, for the rest of the country combined, in spite of thousands more people coming into the emergency departments - we have had a 10% increase in the number of patients coming into emergency departments and being admitted - there has been a 20% reduction in the number of patients on trolleys. That is still not enough but, in fairness, that is a 30% spread between 10% more people coming in and 20% fewer people on trolleys. One very experienced emergency department doctor said it was the best turnaround he had seen in his many years of practice. The credit for that goes to healthcare workers. UHL is in a completely different space and we are taking a range of actions with it that are way above what we are doing with any other hospital.

We will continue with this work. We need to continue adding beds and we need to continue building up not just the emergency department teams but the hospital teams and the acute teams. We will continue putting in discharge options, home care, led by the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and community beds. We have to keep that number going down. It does take time but we are moving in the right direction.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I accept that there has been progress in this regard. However, especially at bank holiday weekends, there seems to be a spike in the number of people who cannot get a hospital bed. The figure of 404 or whatever the actual figure is, is too many. We have the situation of hospital beds in the Irish public health system, which is a legacy issue. We all agree there needs to be more bed capacity in Irish hospitals. Since the 1980s and 1990s, there has been a serious reduction in the number of hospital beds per head of population. The recruitment freeze is having an effect on morale because if people want to access the public health system, the capacity is not there at this time. I would like to hear the Minister's views on this

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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There are a few issues there which I will cover. First, there is an acknowledged deficit in the number of beds. The Deputy will be aware that, two weeks ago, we launched the new business plan, which includes 3,500 beds on top of the 1,200 that have already been opened. This Government will either have opened, have under construction, or now have fully committed to, on a site-by-site basis, almost 5,000 extra hospital beds. This is a transformative number of beds. As the Deputy quite rightly says, we have to staff them. The new development funding has been put in place. New posts are being created for the new beds, so the hiring embargo is not affecting our ability to open the new beds. It is putting our healthcare workers and services under pressure in other ways, but not when it comes to the beds.

The other thing we must keep the focus on when it comes to getting our emergency departments to where they need to be is reform. We are putting in place very significant extra capacity and have been doing so for a few years. The hospitals that are winning, those that are reporting no trolleys or a very small numbers of trolleys, are those that have embraced a different way of managing patient care. We need all hospitals to be doing that.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The INMO appeared before the health committee two weeks ago and painted a very stark picture regarding capacity. The organisation is calling for thousands of extra beds in the public health system. It laid out where the deficiencies exist in the health system. INMO members are the people on the front line. The representatives focused on the lack of beds in the Irish health system where there has been a reduction in the past three or four decades, and it can be seen that Ireland is playing catch-up all the time. I know progress has been made but there needs to be more in terms of hospital beds in the health system.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Yes, for years the INMO has been calling for an extra 5,000 beds, and we are adding nearly 5,000 beds. I did not see the glowing press release from the INMO welcoming all of this, but its members and doctors across the country whom I talk to are very happy with the new beds plan, partly because of the scale of it. It is beyond what people were expecting. People are expecting about 1,500 beds and it is 3,500. Also, we have done this on a regionally balanced basis. In the mid-west, for example, where UHL is, when this Government came to office, the region had the lowest number of beds per head of population of any region. With this plan, it will have the second highest number, so it is much more balanced. The regional inequalities we have seen around the country, particularly on the west coast, from Kerry to Cork and Limerick right up to Letterkenny in Donegal, are all being addressed through this plan. I repeat that we need beds and capacity but reform and increased productivity are also required.