Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

It is the reason we are dealing with a Supplementary Estimate. It was accepted by senior people in the HSE that the budget was unsustainable from very early this year. There were €1 billion in cuts last year and €750 million in cuts this year. We are talking about a Supplementary Estimate of €360 million, with the prospect of another €781 million in cuts in 2013, along with a loss of 3,200 additional staff. I am seriously worried about the patients and the public using the health services.

In the early autumn there were €133 million of cuts, and I will briefly focus on the home help part of that. The Minister has given assurances that a process will be put in place with the home help hours but I would like to see the cuts reversed. Nevertheless, the Minister has given guarantees regarding the process by which the reviews of these home help hours will be done. I am satisfied that what the Minister has indicated is not happening on the ground.

One of my constituents is wheelchair bound, with no use in one hand and very limited use in the other hand. This person is unable to stand, go to bed, use bathroom facilities or cook unaided. That individual was assessed in October this year as requiring the hours that she had been allocated. A month later she was supposedly assessed again, with the number of hours reduced. Within a month, this individual's circumstances had not changed and there was no assessment either by a public health nurse or another professional but there was a reduction in the home help hours. That is just one of a number of cases which I can relate, and I am sure other Deputies can do so as well. Will the Minister comment on the question of home help hours?

Will the Minister confirm that this Supplementary Estimate will allow him to open again the respite beds that were closed in the Community Hospital of the Assumption in Thurles? Both the Minister and a local Fine Gael Deputy promised that these would be open again before the end of the year. The Minister stated that his Department is working closely with the HSE and PA Consulting on a financial improvement programme for the HSE. What does that mean and will we get details of it? Will the Minister detail what exactly is being done in that regard? Will he indicate what capital projects are affected by the reduction of €7.5 million in the capital Vote?