James Breen (Clare, Independent)

My comment on the Health Bill is that too much emphasis is put on expenditure and financial limits. Our health system should reflect the ending of poverty and disadvantage and the promotion of greater equality among our people to ensure that the new Health Service Executive establishes a more patient related care system which is integrated and improved. Public services are experiencing unprecedented pressures due to the lack of available resources. It is detrimental to think we can put a price on health.

We face the reality of a number of our prominent health boards being abolished and turned into a national service. I refer to the Eastern Region Health Authority, the Northern Area Health Board, the East Coast Area Health Board and the South-Western Area Health Board, all established under the Health Act 1970. Also, employees of the dissolved bodies are being pushed towards the Health Service Executive which is being established on a statutory basis. Whether this step will improve the health and quality of life of individuals and communities remains to be seen.

However, appropriately addressing the health care needs of the people requires a commitment to greater access to and provision of services throughout the urban, suburban and rural communities and increased access to services to ensure health care needs are addressed. Closing equality gaps will require new resources, which will be more than the redistribution of existing resources. It should not be an outcome of the planning process that some groups and locations are asked to give up necessary, important and well utilised services. However, better use of existing services should always be pursued. Cost-effectiveness and cost-efficiency are about ensuring services provide and support the highest quality of life for the lowest cost as opposed to simply being about cost reduction. Society has played an important role in increasing the health care provision for its people. Continued increases in longevity and maintenance and enhancement of quality of life require a commitment to maintaining access to and redesigning services that support meeting the health care needs of people.

I am deeply concerned about the impact the Hanly report, if implemented, would have on the people of Clare, particularly those living in remote areas such as the Loop Head peninsula, which is approximately 60 miles from Ennis hospital. I am also concerned that the report, if implemented, will downgrade Ennis hospital to the status of a local hospital. The hospital will not have 24 hour emergency services and that will ultimately cost people their lives. I call on the Minister to scrap the Hanly report and ensure that Ennis is upgraded to a regional hospital, fully staffed and fully equipped to deal with any emergency.

In 2005, there will be a 9% increase in the health budget. We have a new Minister and a new style, but no apparent change in policy other then the creation of a three-tier health service by the Minister and her Government.

Today, a new report on the MRSA super bug has been published. This may come as a surprise to the general public but it comes as no surprise to me, a man who has suffered from the bug for the last six months. I thank the Minister for starting an investigation into how I contracted MRSA. The Minister is sincere in her statements regarding the bug but this problem has to be dealt with as a matter of extreme urgency. Overcrowding in our hospitals has to stop and proper hygiene standards must be adhered to. Hospitals will have to make regular reports on the number of patients contracting the MRSA bug while in their care.

I also draw the attention of the Minister to a young boy suffering from autism in County Clare, who is currently a patient in a secure psychiatric hospital. Is the Minister prepared to ensure that there is proper care and assistance for people like this young boy? It is not right that people suffering from autism should be locked up in secure psychiatric hospitals.

I wish the Minister well in her post. She has a tough job before her. As Deputy Cassidy invited her to come to Mullingar, I invite her to come to County Clare and to take up the cudgels where Deputy Martin left them down. Four years ago, Deputy Martin came to my constituency and promised £15 million for the upgrading of Ennis General Hospital. To date, not a penny of that money has been drawn down. We need an upgraded hospital in Ennis. We need a cat scanner, two extra radiologists, a surgeon and two more consultant physicians.

I ask the Minister to use her good offices to look after the people of Clare. I have no doubt she will.

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