Money alone will not fix hospital overcrowding - Bruton

Overcrowding in the health service is not a new problem and will not be solved by money alone, Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton has said.

Speaking after a survey by the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation showed the number of patients on trolleys or wards waiting for admission to a hospital bed hit a new record high of 601, Mr Bruton said overcrowding was a “really difficult problem” and his sympathies went to those affected.

“But this is not a new problem,” he said. “Even when there was huge amounts of money in the system, we had similar emergencies when money was readily available.”

He added: "There is an opportunity to do better but if money alone could have solved this, this would have been solved in 2004. This requires the reforms that [Minister for Health] Leo Varadkar has put in place to implement over time."

The Government promised earlier in its term never to have more than 569 patients, the previous record, on trolleys and the commitment had now been broken following a surge in New Year presentations.

The figure was 563 on Monday.

Mr Bruton defended the Government’s record on health and said it was providing additional resources in the area for 2015.

He said 300 additional nursing home beds had been made available to take some of the pressure off the hospitals.

Fianna Fáil called for the Oireachtas health committee to meet this week to discuss the issue of overcrowding in emergency departments.

"These figures from the INMO are further evidence of the escalating crisis in our emergency departments, which shows no signs of abating and is raising serious concerns about patient safety," Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher said.

“Hundreds of patients, many of them who are elderly and frail, are being left for days on end on trolleys in A&Es, corridors and makeshift wards without privacy or dignity, as frontline staff struggle to cope without the necessary resources or support.”

Mr Kelleher said the HSE had acknowledged concerns over patient safety but he criticised Mr Varadkar for remaining “worryingly silent” on the issue.

"His only attempt to address the issue has been the establishment of the Emergency Department Taskforce; however a committee which only meets once a month will find it difficult to tackle what has now become a daily crisis."

Asked as to Mr Varadkar’s whereabouts while the issue unfolded, Mr Bruton replied: “I am not going to comment on that”.