Kildare Sinn Fein TD Slams Figures That Show Naas Hospital Wait Times As Being One Of Country's Worst

Tuesday, 14 February 2023 19:16

Reada Cronin says the "Government is failing our patients and failing our medical personnel".

Sinn Féin TD Réada Cronin says official figures released to her party showing waiting times for admission at Naas General Hospital in the top three-worst in the state for people over 75, and the top five-worst for patients generally are “scandalous and dangerous. “

“Time is of the essence in the care of our elderly people and to have them stacked in the Emergency Department for over 30 hours while staff are to the wall with overwork, is completely unacceptable. The government is failing our patients and failing our medical personnel.”

In December last, waiting times in Naas General Hospital were up 21 per cent on 2019 figures.

“This means in 2019, general patients were waiting 17.8 hours before admission, but in December they were waiting 21.5 hours. For our over 75s however, they went from waiting a horrendous 21 hours to a totally disgraceful 30.4 hours. This is no way to treat our elderly people and puts even more stress on staff who are trying to care for them in these dangerous conditions.”

“People are waiting longer in ED and are being put at a higher risk of a poor outcome because the Minister has failed and abjectly to add the proper capacity in the hospitals themselves, in community care and in homecare. The lack of GPs, alone, is causing huge problems locally.”

“Naas General Hospital is invaluable to us in the community, but it needs more beds and more staff. It has to be supported with proper community care, proper homecare packages and more GPs locally. Our sickest people and those caring for them are being forced to pick up the slack of a failed and failing health policy generally.” Deputy Cronin added.

“We need radical change in how our health service is delivered and managed. People have a right, as citizens, to timely and good care and that right must be vindicated.” She concluded.

Reada Cronin spoke with Eoin Beatty on Wednesday morning on the Kildare Today show to discuss the issue: