Beaumont Hospital trolley figures are a disgrace – O’Brien - 48 people on trolleys today-

Fianna Fáil Dublin spokesperson and general election candidate for Dublin Fingal Senator Darragh O’Brien has accused the Minister for Health of not having a proper plan or vision for the future of the health service as the latest INMO figures show there are 48 people on trolleys in Beaumont Hospital today.

Senator O’Brien’s comments come as recent statistics show that between January and September 2015 a total of 854 operations were cancelled at Beaumont Hospital.  Outpatient waiting lists at Beaumont Hospital also dramatically increased by over 570% since July 2014.

“Since Leo Varadkar took over the health portfolio there has been an astonishing 579.5% increase in the number of people on Outpatient Waiting lists at Beaumont Hospital for more than 12 months. In the period January to November 2015 Trolley figures in Beaumont rose by 30.37% when compared with the same period in 2014. On top of this the daily figures for the number of people on trolleys is getting higher and higher. This is a disgrace.

“From January to September in 2015 a total of 854 operations were cancelled in Beaumont. With the proposed cut in hospital funding of €100million this signals that 2016 is going to be a very, very difficult year for Beaumont Hospital, the staff and patients,” warned Senator O’Brien.

“It is one thing to refuse a HSE request for an extra €85 million for hospitals in 2016 as Minister Varadkar has done, but to force a cut of €100 million on the acute sector really adds insult to injury. Minister Varadkar may think that figures ‘continue to show improvements’ but no-one will be fooled.”
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