I was contacted at 11.30 this morning by a constituent who brought to my attention the fact that his 67 year old mother is in University Hospital Kerry sitting on a chair.

She has been sitting on a chair since 6.30 p.m. yesterday when she was referred by her doctor to the hospital. She suffers from diabetes and arthritis, but for the past three weeks she has been suffering from severe headaches. As yet, she has not had a CAT scan. This is deplorable. Will the Minister for Health look into this matter immediately? This woman is 67 years old. It is unacceptable that anybody would spend 17 hours sitting on a chair in a hospital.

On 25 February, I sent a file to the Minister for Health and the head of the HSE-----

The Deputy can only raise one matter.

That file is a potential protected disclosure regarding the carry-on in a certain hospital.

The Deputy cannot raise a second matter.

As yet, I have received no acknowledgement or reply from the Minister or the head of the HSE.

Please, Deputy.

When can I expect a reply from the HSE and the Minister?

Deputy Michael Healy Rae on the same matter.

I support Deputy Ferris because I was also contacted on my way in here about this very important matter. The answer is that there is a request by the manager of the hospital. We want to support University Hospital Kerry. There is an opportunity to open 40 additional beds in the hospital. On behalf of the people working in the accident and emergency department, I ask the Taoiseach please to open those 40 beds in order to take this massive pressure off them. The individuals in question are doing their level best to cater for the likes of the lady who has been sitting on a chair since 6.30 p.m. yesterday.

I thank the Deputy.

Please put the services and the money in place to open the 40 beds in University Hospital Kerry as a matter of urgency.

I am very sorry to hear about the experience of the patient in Kerry to whom the Deputies refer. Unfortunately, I do not know the details of the case. I do know that two thirds of people who attend hospital emergency departments are either in bed or discharged home within nine hours. For one third of patients, however, the experience can be very bad indeed. I will certainly raise the matter with the Minister for Health when I speak to him later.

On the second point raised by Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, 170 new extra beds have been open so far this winter and another 130 will be opened over the course of the year. As part of the capacity review and the ten-year capital plan, we want to open more capacity, with 2,500 additional beds over the next decade. We do not intend to do 250 a year for ten years. We want to front-load it. If there are detailed, costed proposals from hospitals, we want to see them and we will fund them if we can.