It must be remembered that we are talking about people, not statistics. A man with a degenerative heart condition was recently admitted to Tallaght Hospital where he spent three full days on a trolley before getting a bed. He was then discharged 45 minutes later. In the course of waiting, while having to attend the toilet, his trolley was taken. These are traumatic experiences for ordinary people. Many of those lying in trolleys in hospital corridors, not just in the eastern region but throughout the country, are subjected to difficult experiences. Older people are robbed of their dignity while young people visiting are unnerved, even frightened, when going past these streams of trolleys with sick people.

What steps is the Government taking to address this problem? Is the Government increasing bed provision or providing additional staff? What nursing staff have to contend with at the coalface of the delivery of acute services is unacceptable. We do not want reports constantly cited to us in answer to these questions but evidence of what the Government is actually doing to address these issues. With an upturn in the economy, there are no excuses for failing to address these needs.

No objective analysis of health services can claim this Government has failed to invest in them. An unprecedented increase has been made in health services investment.

There is a difference between spending and investing.

The Government has not delivered.

People are suffering on trolleys in hospitals.

Allow the Minister without interruption.

In the last seven years in the health services, the number of additional nurses has increased to 8,200 and the number of additional consultants stands at 491. The number of patients treated in-hospital and at out-patient facilities has increased by over 250,000. In 2003, 47,000 additional patients were treated in hospitals between in-patient and out-patient facilities. That marks an increase of 4.7%.

I understand the pressures on accident and emergency wards. I have already indicated the number of additional consultants that have been employed and the additional facilities provided. Step-down facilities and improvements in GP services must be developed to ensure that patients are screened to ensure accident and emergency facilities are available for the acutely ill.

In Tallaght Hospital, the nine cubicles in the accident and emergency ward have a high turnover. Many patients arrive without prior notice and many need resuscitation and other urgent assistance to save their lives. In the event of a life-threatening admission, it is normal for a patient to be moved to another bed or trolley after assessment so that space can be freed up. Due to different patient types, this is part of the work of many accident and emergency departments in major hospitals. I accept that the number of patients on trolleys is unacceptable. However, additional resources are being dedicated in a wide range of areas to combat that problem.

The Minister's response will be but cold comfort to the 150 patients who are now on trolleys in the Eastern Regional Health Authority area. How many more are on trolleys in other regional acute hospitals? Nothing in what the Minister has said will address their need today. Make no mistake, it could be the Minister's or my need tomorrow. This is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed.

In the Fianna Fáil 2002 general election manifesto, a promise, often overlooked while others are cited, was made that the Government intended to implement a full range of measures to improve accident and emergency services by significantly reducing waiting times and having senior doctors available at all times. The Government has failed to live up to this promise. The promises regarding an additional 200,000 medical cards and the ending of waiting lists are often cited. However, this is another promise that brought this Government into power. While the House discusses this issue, the Government is offering no redress to the situation in which many people find themselves. Will the Minister outline how he proposes to address the policy deficiencies of this Government?

A sum of €17.6 million has been allocated to the Eastern Regional Health Authority to facilitate the discharge of patients from the acute system to more appropriate settings. This funding has already resulted in the discharge of some 300 patients from acute hospitals in the eastern region. Funding has been provided for the recruitment of additional emergency medicine consultants and consultant anaesthetists. There are now 51 emergency medicine consultant posts in acute hospitals and the number of emergency medicine consultants in the eastern region has increased from ten to 21. A sum of €46.5 million has been allocated for the development of general practitioner out of hours co-operatives between 2000 and 2003, with an additional €24 million being provided in 2004. These additional resources are clearly making an impact. All the problems have not been resolved and the Minister for Health and Children will continue his efforts and will be supported strongly in the Government to get the additional resources which will ultimately deal with the remaining problems which need to be addressed.