Workers’ Party Dublin North West representative Jimmy Dignam has said that the government has failed utterly at tackling the hospital beds crisis and is shell-shocked that the Taoiseach’s 2011 predictions of an end to the crisis have been completely wrong.

Mr. Dignam said said no amount of hospital tours or stage-managed photo opportunities by Minister Leo Varadkar or his colleagues could hide the utter failure of the government to prevent a repeat of the hospital beds crisis which has gone from an annual post-Christmas emergency to an all year round one.

“Behind the statistics are almost 500 human beings who have had their dignity thrown out the window as they lie on trolleys in corridors or sit in chairs at a time when they are already ill and extra vulnerable.  Add to this the hospital nurses and doctors who have to cope with an impossible situation”, said Dignam

“There are no words strong enough to describe the current situation. There is no solution short of a radical overhaul of the health system and significant short and long-term investment which will bring an end to the crisis.  That means building new hospitals, expanding exisiting ones and freeing up wards in public hospitals such as those allocated to consultants for private patients”.

The Workers’ Party representative concluded: “Another significant issue is the need to take money out of the equation by making all healthcare free at the point of use and financed through progressive taxation which will tax those with wealth rather than giving them a Rolls Royce health service while others get left on trolleys.”