Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The aim is to have universal health insurance available to the entire population by early 2016. What is the plan to progress this in the next few years to ensure this does happen? As for the primary care services, I believe 34 primary care centres are progressing at present, while a further 12 have been approved. How does the Minister find the task of getting qualified personnel to work in these centres? He should indicate what progress is being made in this regard. In respect of the €40 million in additional funding for disability services, I note that €7 million has been allocated to provide for an estimated 1,200 additional places for school leavers, as well as people in training and emergency residential placements. What is the plan for the future in this regard? How can members track that this is being implemented? Moreover, how can the €3 million being allocated to provide emergency placing for people with disabilities whose family circumstances have changed, as well as the €4 million for children with disabilities, including autism, be tracked and followed up? I believe the €30 million provided to help to address the waiting lists will increase access to emergency departments, inpatient treatment, day care and outpatient department, OPD, services. At present, the waiting time for adults is eight months, for new eye patients it is 12 months and children wait for as long as 20 weeks. Is this funding to maintain or improve these levels of service?

Over Christmas in particular, a lot of old people have no one to look after them. What plans are in place to look after them? An issue that I am encountering more often in my clinics is that many elderly people are being abandoned in hospitals. Their families no longer wish to take the responsibility of looking after these elderly people. Is money being put aside to look for such people? They are being discharged from hospitals, are being sent home and so on but they have no one to whom to go home and they are not fit to so do. Another issue that has received my attention is that of voluntary health insurance. Premiums for many elderly people have been increased. Older people tend to wish to opt for the top policy because they are more inclined to get sick and many such policies are increasing by between €400 and €500 per annum. As they simply cannot afford it, can anything be done to help such people to pay their premiums?

I will conclude with a question regarding the national ambulance services as in recent weeks, all one has heard on news reports has been references to delays in ambulance response time. I have been informed that in 2013, €25 million was allocated, which was a capital investment for a national control centre, as well as 25 new intermediate car vehicles. There still appears to be a problem. Can these delays be examined and can one ensure this does not happen again? It is all down to communications, which will be extremely important in the future.