Mr. Barry Torpey:

I thank Ms Mullins, the Senators and Deputies, the Chair and the clerk. I am a qualified civil engineer and technician with 28 years' experience in various civil engineering and construction sectors. I currently work in the health and safety sector. I am here in a private and personal capacity. My partner, Jean Welsh, was a staff nurse at St. Brigid's on the day services at the hospital ceased.

I will continue to read from our opening statement. We will move to the issues of the step-down unit designation and closure. The HSE designated St. Brigid’s as a step-down unit for recovering Covid-19 patients in April 2020 but it closed the following month with the cessation of all services. St. Brigid’s Hospital was a 16-bed hospital when closed and two beds were removed to adhere to infection control requirements during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite many promises that inpatient services would return, the HSE stated that the building did not meet HIQA standards, as stated in its latest report of 2018. The HSE said it would be converting St. Brigid’s Hospital into a community health centre for chronic disease management, specialising in diabetes supports. Almost 30 staff were redeployed to other HSE facilities in Waterford and Tipperary during lockdown and all equipment was removed from the hospital.

On peaceful protests and the bed push, actions to support and highlight the need to reopen St. Brigid’s included weekly peaceful protest meetings and walks around the town, many of which were attended by older people from Carrick-on-Suir and its environs. A bed push from South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel to St. Brigid’s Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir took place on Saturday, 24 October 2020, when Catherine Foley from Carrick and a volunteer with Carrick-on-Suir River Rescue took on this remarkable 23.5 km challenge in a bid to raise awareness urgently of the need to reopen St. Brigid’s Hospital. Such is the passion and endurance of the local community to have their services returned. It is not just a fundamental need of the people; it is a just and fundamental right. A petition signed by almost 11,000 people from Carrick-on-Suir and the catchment area seeking to reopen St. Brigid’s Hospital was handed to the Minister of State at the Department for Health with special responsibility for mental health and older people, Deputy Butler, at Dáil Éireann on 22 September 2021 by representatives of the "Save Our Hospital" campaign.

We are in the middle of a perfect storm with the current trolley crisis in hospitals nationwide. There is evidence of delayed discharge in many of our local hospitals in Clonmel and Waterford and throughout the country. Nursing homes are closing and there are very few options for older patients who are recovering from illnesses or convalescing. It is very difficult to source carers under the home care packages and so older people are not being discharged from hospitals as it is not safe for them to leave. St. Brigid’s Hospital is an example of how the trolley crisis can be alleviated and it can assist in the discharge of older people from hospitals. We firmly believe that the reopening of St. Brigid’s Hospital would help relieve these ongoing issues as there were no long-stay beds in St. Brigid’s and there was a constant turnaround of people every two weeks in the beds available there over the years. These respite and convalescent services provided more beds not less beds. There is a staggering rise in the number of older people living at present and it is the global trend of this generation. The health issues arising from a larger older population is, and will continue to be, significant. This problem is not going away and is only going to get worse. The trolley crisis will continue and get worse every year with our growing older population.

In the HIQA reports, the inspector said “there were sufficient resources in place to ensure the delivery of safe and good quality care and support to the residents”. That is a HIQA inspector referring to St. Brigid's Hospital. The reports’ findings, while glowing in their praise for staff from the patients and visitors in respect of their care, say there is an issue in respect of the size of the building in light the number of patients being catered for and seek that a new hospital be built on a green-field site. We know of no funds allocated for such a hospital. There is a hospital in place that was fully operational prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and which could, with some minor internal adjustments, be up and running again in a very short period of time. We are of the view that the issues raised in the reports, in particular regarding patients’ ability to store their belongings, could be easily rectified with the addition of simple lockers or wardrobes.

We accept that a slightly slimmed down version would be necessary for the hospital to be reinstated. We are grateful for the committee’s assistance in hearing our petition and further, if the committee is minded to seek to raise the matter again in the Dáil, with the Minister for Health and the Government, particularly in light of the recent difficulties acute hospitals face and will face going forward. The decision to close our hospital was the wrong one. It is never too late to do the right thing and reverse this decision. I thank all the members for their time.