Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

He was too busy getting his picture taken. The only reason we have seen changes is because the matter was raised consistently in the House.

The Government response referred to a specific focus on the needs of older people and the development of a long-term care policy, including the preparation of clear standards for nursing home care. When the Leas Cross crisis broke before the summer recess, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste said they would establish an independent health service inspectorate before the end of the year. This plan was also contained in the health strategy published in 2001. After the summer recess, however, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste were relaxed and forgot their purpose in this respect. Their proposal disappeared from the agenda but it has not been forgotten by those who want to see protection for elderly people in nursing homes. Only 5% of elderly people go into nursing homes but an inspectorate is required to protect their human rights in such situations. It is a disgrace for the Government to say it cannot be bothered to do it this year and that it might do it next year. Ministers pretend they are concerned but they are not because they have done nothing about the matter.

The Minister of State also said that the Health Service Executive will address the issue of hospital-acquired infections, including MRSA. It is ridiculous, however, to do an audit and state that the baseline will be an examination of the MRSA problem and other hospital-acquired infections. Why does the Minister not ask those in the hospitals to take responsibility for the jobs they are paid to do? Some people are paid to clean hospitals and maintain acceptable levels of hygiene there. We insist on clean restaurants and meat factories, so we should at least expect the same cleanliness in our hospitals. Someone should be responsible for achieving that.

Infection control requires specialised personnel, including microbiologists and nurses, to take responsibility for the issue. A once-in-a-lifetime audit will not change anything. The Minister should have followed our suggestion of establishing a flying squad to turn up unannounced at hospitals and carry out a thorough audit. Under that plan, no one would be aware in advance of when such a team would arrive. That is the way to change people's perceptions of how a health system should be run.

I am glad the Tánaiste is meeting the family of Mr. Walsh tonight. I am disgusted by the way in which Ministers jump into their Mercedes and travel throughout the country to cut a ribbon on any capital projects that are developed. It is disgraceful that what happened in the north-east region last week attracted only glib comments from the Government side of the House. A Minister should have been sent there to talk to the family concerned as well as visiting all the hospitals involved before reporting back to the House on what happened.

There is no need for an eight-week delay while awaiting yet another review. At least four reviews have been carried out by eminent consultants in the north-east health area. I am shocked that in our health care system a citizen bled to death in front of the very doctors and nurses who were supposed to be looking after him. I was disgusted that the Government never felt it was important enough for any Minister to go and see what had occurred.

Voters will not accept a situation whereby the HSE takes responsibility for the health services in the same way as the National Roads Authority is responsible for building roads and bypasses. People consider the health service to be much too important to be handed over to a body like that. Whoever is the next Minister for Health and Children, he or she should take personal responsibility for citizens' health care instead of handing it over to some organisation like the HSE.

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