FINE GAEL’S health spokesman Dr James Reilly has claimed the average daily number of patients on trolleys in hospitals has increased by 12 per cent this year when compared to 2008.
Dr Reilly accused Minister for Health Mary Harney of “presiding over gridlock” and said patients were paying for bad political decisions.
“An average of 268 people a day had to wait on a trolley in AE over the course of 2009, a 12 per cent increase on 2008,” Dr Reilly said.
“It is disgraceful that so many people are still enduring this uncomfortable and hazardous situation after all the promises from Government over the last five years.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health said Dr Reilly appeared to be basing his figures solely on returns from the Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO).
The spokesman said Dr Reilly had consistently ignored figures presented by the HSE and had been challenged about this on a number of occasions at the Oireachtas health committee.
