Joint Committee on Health to meet to discuss the current challenges facing public hospitals

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Committee Cathaoirleach Seán Crowe TD said “the Committee will use this first meeting back after the Christmas recess to meet with officials from the Health Service Executive to discuss the on-going difficulties facing emergency departments in public hospitals . 

As we have seen, this year's winter surge of respiratory illnesses, combined with the shortage of acute hospital beds, has led to hundreds of patients waiting on trolleys in Ireland's hospitals every day. We will look to the HSE to outline the measures being implemented to tackle these record numbers on trolleys. We will also look to their medium to long term plans in order to ascertain what is in place for the predictable increased pressure in emergency departments next year and beyond."

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