Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I will remind the Minister of State of the kind of details I was seeking when I tabled this question. I wanted to know how many of the promised 600 additional day hospital beds were provided. It was planned to provide such beds in facilities offering specialist services to those affected by falls, osteoporosis, fractures, Parkinson's disease, strokes, heart failure and incontinence. Have the promised 1,370 additional assessment and rehabilitation beds been put in place? How many of the planned 7,000 day care places for the elderly have been provided? What has happened to the Government's intention, as outlined in the strategy, to establish 800 places each year in additional extended care and community nursing units? It is not unreasonable, almost four years after the publication of the strategy, to want to know how many of the places in question have been put in place in the health care system.

What is happening in respect of long-term beds? I tabled a question six months ago looking for information about the number of long-stay beds in public nursing homes under the control of each of the six HSE subdivisions. I learned that the number of such beds is decreasing in each of the subdivisions which bothered to reply. I did not receive a response from some of the subdivisions to my parliamentary question.

Do I understand correctly from the Minister of State's reply that the Government did not initiate a review of its policy for the care of the elderly until recently, even though such a review was promised in the health strategy? Is it the case that no policy will be in place until the review has been completed? Can the Minister of State explain why just 5% of people in this jurisdiction who suffer strokes have access to rehabilitation beds, according to the Irish Heart Foundation, when 70% of people in Northern Ireland enjoy such access in such circumstances? I would like the Minister of State to tell me why many of the statistics relating to care beds are terrible. We have heard many announcements of what is planned.

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