Varadkar’s time in health could be defined by way he tackles overcrowding

Earlier this year, in the face of a dramatic escalation in patients waiting on trolleys for admission to hospitals, the Government invested more than €70 million in additional funding to tackle the problem.

About 200 community beds were opened, the former Mount Carmel private hospital was commissioned as a public facility and more money was injected into the Fair Deal nursing home scheme so patients who had completed acute treatment in hospitals could be moved to more appropriate settings.

Staff levels across the health service were also increased by about 1,000 in recent months as a result of the easing of the recruitment moratorium.

However, while these various measures succeeded in freeing up about 300 beds in acute hospitals, the overcrowding problem was never fully cracked.

In reality, despite the additional investment, the trolley problem at the height of the summer was significantly worse than at the same period in 2014.

On the last day of June, Minister for Health Leo Varadkar was told by the HSE that, at that point, there were 358 people on trolleys, 154 for more than nine hours. This meant there were nearly 150 more patients on trolleys than in June 2014.

The failure to get to the heart of the trolley problem in spring and summer left open the prospect of the situation deteriorating further in the winter, which would also coincide with the run-in to the general election. This undoubtedly would create political problems for Varadkar.

Critics argue that he appears to act as if he were a commentator on problems affecting the health service rather than the man in charge since taking up the post just over a year ago.

Earlier this month, the Minister announced a new “winter initiative” aimed at trying to fix the trolley problem. This involves, among other measures, the opening of a further 300 beds around the country.

The measures announced in April, while successful in many regards, did not break the back of the trolley and overcrowding problem. It is against this background that the Minister made his verbal and written comments recently about heads “having to roll” if the trolley issue was not resolved.

If, as his opponents maintain, Varadkar has so far managed to glide over problems in the health service, that stance is coming to an end. The likelihood is that his success or failure at tackling hospital overcrowding and growing waiting lists will go a long way towards defining his period in the Department of Health.