Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Following on from what Senator Barrett said about the Committee of Public Accounts, I think the CPP made an important decision in that for the past eight months, the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children has been denied the right to cross-examine the 2,600 organisations that get funding from the HSE and the Department of Health. The money they are getting amounts to €3.27 billion. The Committee of Public Accounts told the Committee on Health and Children that we could not bring any of those organisations in to cross-examine them about how that money was being spent and to find out whether we were getting value for money. I am delighted that the Committee on Health and Children can now do the job it was appointed to do, which is making sure the health budget allocated by the Department of Health to the HSE is used properly and that there is proper scrutiny of the organisations that are getting funding. It is wrong that it took eight months for the CPP to make a decision on this matter so that the Committee on Health and Children can proceed with its job.

I know people are probably tired of hearing me talk about the issue of junior doctors. Unfortunately, we have now gone to the other extreme with regard to junior doctors. The working time directive is now being put in place and we have a problem in that we do not have enough junior doctors to fill all of the posts. The other problem is that junior doctors who are in post are not getting proper training. There has been no proper restructuring by the HSE. It has got to a point where junior doctors are resigning their posts within the HSE and working for agencies. I spoke to one junior doctor recently who told me that he is now getting €52 per hour working as a senior house officer because he is employed by an agency. That is €2,000 for a 40-hour week. It goes to show the lack of planning and structural reform that is required in respect of how we have managed this area over the past number of years. It is something I flagged three years ago and something that I will continue to raise. There is a major crisis in some hospitals because we cannot get the people we need and we are now dependent on agencies. Agencies are abusing what they are employed to do. They are designating doctors as having a qualification or experience which they do not have. These doctors are being put into positions for which they are unsuitable. It is time we had a major debate on long-term planning relating to our hospital services and making sure that we do not end up in the same position in three or four years time. I ask that this debate be held here with the Minister for Health and Children early in the next term.