Joe Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I am pleased to see the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, present but I am very surprised that the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, is not present to listen to this debate. I am disappointed that no representatives of the Health Service Executive are listening to this debate.

Owing to the shortage of beds in general community hospitals, elderly people who need full time care and attention must accept beds in private nursing homes. Elderly people are compelled to accept this situation without reference to means. I am aware of a health service liaison officer in a hospital who directs people to private nursing homes without making any provision for the full payment of the charges that are due.

In the health service area of Cork and Kerry, 489 elderly people await enhanced subventions. Think of their plight; they know neither they nor their families can afford to pay the nursing home fees. While elderly people in community hospitals benefit from the new method of assessment, those in private nursing homes and who have the same means are asked to pay more than €600 per week. Think of that situation under the Health Service Executive which we were told would end all of the problems in the system. There is no reference to the problems of the elderly in society.

In one case, the daughter of a person in a private nursing home was advised that her father would be discharged at the end of the month because of arrears in the payment of charges. This happened in the Cork-Kerry Health Service Executive area. Imagine the plight of this woman who cannot afford to pay for her father who is being discharged because he has not received the enhanced subvention promised to him on admission to the private nursing home. There are private nursing homes in almost every parish but no extra beds in community hospitals. People are forced to accept beds in private facilities, but these are not being paid for by the State. An ombudsman said that if elderly people are entitled to medical care in a hospital, they are entitled to free medical care. It is on record that elderly people are entitled to long-stay care, which is not happening. I feel aggrieved about it under a Government that is telling everyone how great it is, which is not the case.

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