Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health David Cullinane TD has called on government to endorse and implement his party’s proposals to end the constant crisis in our hospitals.

Deputy Cullinane was speaking ahead of Sinn Féin’s Dáil motion on the issue, which will be debated on Wednesday.

Teachta Cullinane said:

“This winter must be a watershed moment in ending the constant crises in our hospitals. Overcrowding is inhumane, unsafe, and undignified. We need radical action.

“The solutions are no secret and there are no more lessons to be learned. Sinn Féin has a plan to turn it around.

“Two decades of negligence have come home to roost. We have fewer acute inpatient beds in hospitals than 25 years ago and need at least 800 more acute and transitional care beds in place before next winter.

“The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) reported just five days where there were fewer than 350 patients on trolleys in 2022. They recorded no day with under 300.

“Instead of ending the scandal of patients on trolleys, Fine Gael made it worse. The health service is only held together by the goodwill and hard labour of healthcare workers battling crises day in, day out.

“Overcrowding was declared a “national emergency” in 2006 but it has been allowed to become the new normal. But it is not normal, it is a national disgrace.  

“In the short-term, government must make greater use of all public and private health care infrastructure to alleviate pressure on the public system.

“Sinn Féin has a multi-annual plan to increase the number of public beds, including more acute inpatient and sub-acute hospital beds and community step-down beds to speed up admissions and discharges to meet rising demand and demographic change, and to expedite the development of elective centres.”

Sinn Féin’s motion can be read here.