Sinn Féin TDs from across the West raised “serious concerns” over capacity, patients on trollies, and emergency department crisis in the Saolta Hospital Group with Minister Anne Rabbitte.
The exchanges took place in the Dáil last night, with Galway West Sinn Féin TD, Mairéad Farrell [pictured below], pointing out how the Covid pandemic has shown “that we need the capacity and the bed numbers to keep patients safe and away from risk”.
She said Galway University Hospital has “long had an issue with capacity” and that has resulted in some patients having to stay on a trolley rather than in a hospital bed.
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“It was this capacity issue which left us on the back foot at the onset of this pandemic and which still impacts on our fight against Cocid today,” she said. “It was horrifying to see that once again this month we saw hundreds of people lying on hospital trolleys in Galway. These aren’t just numbers, these are real people.”
She said the Government must deal with the capacity issues and also support “the tremendous work done by staff who are dealing with overcrowded conditions day in, day out”.
