Hospital overcrowding and health legislation
Micheál Martin raises the worsening accident and emergency overcrowding crisis and seeks progress on health legislation; the Taoiseach outlines legislative priorities and development timelines.
We have spoken for a number of weeks about the ongoing accident and emergency crisis in hospitals. The situation has been getting worse. There have been days on which more than 600 patients have not had proper accommodation in our hospitals. The Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, does a regular soundbite in which he says he must redouble his efforts and people must move on. Today, there are 55 patients on trolleys in Limerick Regional Hospital, which has cancelled all elective admissions. The same applies to the Mercy Hospital, Drogheda and others. There are 416 patients on trolleys and 135 patients in extra beds on the wards, a total of 551 sick people in unsuitable accommodation. The Health Information Bill is very relevant to this, as is the patient safety (licensing) Bill, which is to provide a mandatory system of licensing for public and private health care facilities. These hospitals are clinically unsafe. It is an urgent issue on which we need action.
The apprenticeship Bill is to provide for the protections and responsibilities that apply to employers and apprenticeships in light of the introduction of new apprenticeships and to provide for new governance arrangements in the apprenticeship, which is a key issue in opening up opportunities for young people. When will the legislation be published?
Comment on this
We have decided on priorities for 41 pieces of legislation for this session.
I do not have dates for the Health Information Bill 2014 or the Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill 2015, but I will advise Deputy Micheál Martin on the progress made in developing the heads of these Bills.
The Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Damien English, is dealing with the apprenticeship Bill. He is waiting for proposals to be submitted by the end of March and will develop the Bill from there. A new apprenticeship council has been set up and SOLAS is in operation. The Minister of State is very engaged with a different form of flexibility for training modules for trainees and apprentices. I assume there will be a discussion on this issue in the House at an appropriate time.