The Government is being called on to change its approach to healthcare in Kerry.
Sinn Féin TD Deputy Pa Daly made the call.
He says without a change, the chronic bed shortages will continue and he fears they may even get worse.
Deputy Pa Daly says the current crisis isn’t the fault of the many hardworking doctors, nurses and administrative staff, but he says it’s the decades of bad planning and mismanagement by successful Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments.
The Kerry TD says the chronic shortages in bed capacity have been happening for years and he claims the Government has done nothing to address them.
Deputy Daly says any actions have failed to get to the root of issue and he feels the bed capacity deficit in Kerry is particularly pronounced for those who suffer with dementia and other patients who need a bed long-term.
He says while the new Community Hospital in Killarney is welcome, it offers no additional bed capacity in these two areas.
Deputy Pa Daly says the in Kerry sick patients are left in hallways on trolleys, sometimes for days on ends, while others are waiting upwards of 16 hours before they are even seen in the ED.
He says this is totally unacceptable and also hit out at the lack of elective surgeries in UHK which he claims haven’t occurred since last December.
The Kerry Sinn Féin TD says the Government needs to bring forth solutions that will actually solve this problem; he adds they need to increase bed capacity, open a primary care centre in Tralee and Killarney and establish a minor injuries clinic in a place easily accessed by the patients who need it.
