Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I am simply reading from the Official Report. I will move on to 2006, by which time the Government had promised that everything would be different. However, 2006 did not start well due to the publication of the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital report and the recommendations by Judge Harding Clark to make improvements in the health service a priority. Little has been done in respect of that report. At the time, the Minister for Health and Children noted that doing nothing was not an option. Obviously, as far as care of the elderly is concerned, this is quickly fading from the Government's memory. In the Official Report, 1 February 2006, vol. 613, col. 1705, the Minister for Health and Children stated:

The legislation providing for the establishment of the social services inspectorate on a statutory basis is being incorporated into the Bill establishing the health information and quality authority, HIQA. The preparation of the heads of this Bill is at an advanced stage in my Department and I expect to be in a position to submit them to Government within the next month.

At the time, the Minister also spoke of how important the social services inspectorate would be and that she would establish a working group. She referred to another working group with membership drawn from "[her own] Department, the HSE, the social services inspectorate and the Irish Health Service Accreditation Board". This working group was established in February 2006. Interestingly however, while the same Irish Health Service Accreditation Board produced its own recommendations on standards in nursing homes the previous November, nearly a year later Members still await their publication by the Department. Hence, setting up working groups about which one does nothing is a pure waste of time.

Matters have become so bad that the owners of private nursing homes have published their own standards. The Excellence Ireland Quality Association published its own standards as to what should be expected in nursing homes. The difficulty for such owners is that the standards are non-statutory and non-binding. Hence, anyone who so wishes may continue following the practices operated at Leas Cross. Deputy O'Dowd will outline how weak those standards are in those nursing homes which exploit elderly people.

In the Official Report, 1 June 2006, vol. 620, col. 1845, the Minister for Health and Children stated: "Last year, beds were offered that were not procured because of the results of previous inspections." Hence, although the health boards themselves do not act on these inspections, she continued by stating: "I accept that we need to strengthen the law in this area". Again, this gives the impression that somehow, realisation has dawned on the Minister for Health and Children that she must do something about this major issue. Even the Taoiseach, in the Official Report, 14 June 2006, vol. 621, col. 1058, stated: "I have announced many times that the legislation in question is being prepared" and we "hope to pass this legislation later this year after it has benefited from the wisdom of the consultation process". — Official Report, 14 June 2006, vol. 621, col. 1059. Unfortunately, although the consultation process is long over, there is still no sign of this legislation.

Moreover, the O'Neill report, the second major report on the same institution, has now been completed. The Government again refuses to publish it. However, what is known about this report is interesting. It states: "what occurred at Leas Cross cannot be assumed to be an isolated incident". One of the main recommendations in the report is that the Department of Health and Children should establish a clear policy regarding care of the elderly and that a national monitoring system for vulnerable patients be established. This is something for which all Members have called and which has been part of the Government's strategy since as long ago as October 2001.

I will provide the Minister of State with a brief overview as to what is happening as far as the Department of Health and Children is concerned. In the past five years, health policy for care of the elderly has gone from being an enthusiastic hope for the future to dying a slow death. The difficulties with the O'Shea and Travers reports and the lack of legislation for the protection of elderly patients became clear in the mid-term of the Government. However, what transpired during 2005 and 2006 shows what happens when a Minister talks the talk but does not walk the walk. This applies to the former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, and the current Minister, Deputy Harney, because neither of them delivered much on solving the crisis in accident and emergency departments or in respect of the Hynes report, the hospital hygiene audit report, the report on Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital or the report into the death of Mr. P.J. Walsh. Now we have the O'Neill report.

During a discussion with the Minister of State this morning at a meeting of the Select Committee on Health and Children on legislation to change the subvention payments, numerous weaknesses were exposed in the legislation. The one on which I believe most people will comment is the removal by the Government of an appeal system established under ministerial regulation, which is not included in the legislation that the Minister of State expects Members of this House to vote in favour of in the next few weeks, and in that regard people are expected to wait for guidelines to be issued by the Health Service Executive. The position has changed from patient care being covered by regulation to now being covered by guidelines, and the Minister of State is saying this is a matter on which we must trust the HSE. I note from the Dáil schedule that the Health Information and Quality Authority legislation, to which the Minister of State referred, will not be ready until 2007, which is a little along the lines of the song "What's Another Year".

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