Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health, David Cullinane TD, has called on the Minister for Health to take immediate action to expedite the delivery of 5,000 much-needed acute hospital beds, elective-only hospitals, and discharge-aligned home and community care. He also called on the Minister to urgently bring forward legislation to underpin the Framework for Safe Staffing.

The TD for Waterford said that patient care has become riskier and riskier under Fine Gael’s watch, with the winter trolley crisis spiralling into year-round chaos and dysfunction. He said that this is highlighted in the INMO’s survey, with the vast majority of nurses who participated in the survey saying they had treated patients in inappropriate locations and that this has compromised patient safety. He noted that January 2025 was the worst January on record for hospital overcrowding on the basis of the INMO’s Trolley Watch figures.

Teachta Cullinane said:

“The INMO ‘Behind the Trolley Numbers’ Survey highlights the desperate conditions and patient safety risks which are caused by the trolley crisis. Healthcare workers are doing their best in the most difficult circumstances, and do not feel supported. Their working conditions cause serious moral injury. Many feel that they are being taken advantage of in a broken system.

“Increasing bed capacity and ensuring safe staffing levels is a minimum requirement for doing right by patients and care workers. Hospitals have become dangerously overcrowded under Fine Gael, on whose watch the trolley crisis has spiralled from a winter surge into year-round chaos and dysfunction. A zero-tolerance approach and strategy is needed, and it must be led by the Minister.

“The Minister for Health is responsible for sorting this out. No Minister or Government in recent years can say they have succeeded in making our hospitals safer. The Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill must take immediate action to expedite the delivery of much-needed hospital beds, elective hospitals, and discharge-aligned home and community care capacity.

“We know that our hospitals need 5,000 beds to eliminate the use of trolleys and chairs, and provide safe surge capacity. We know that the elective hospitals will dramatically reduce elective waiting lists, and free up space in emergency hospitals. Discharge-aligned home and community care would allow people to be cared for closer to home in a more appropriate place, rather than stuck in an overcrowded acute hospital, which would significantly improve patient flow. The solutions are out there, but political will has been lacking.

“A joined-up plan is needed from the Minister for Health. January 2025 has been the worst January on record for overcrowding according to the INMO’s trolley figures. She must urgently outline how she will resolve the crisis in our hospitals, and set a date for the elimination of hospital trolleys.”