Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am glad to see this Bill before the Dáil as it took a long time to get here. I was my party's deputy spokesman for health with Deputy Gay Mitchell in 1999 and 2000, and I raised the issue of inspectorates for public and private nursing homes in many Adjournment debates.

At that time I called into a public nursing home in north Mayo as a family had contacted me to ask me to view the conditions. I involved the then Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, former Deputy Moffatt, what was then known as the Western Health Board, the Health and Safety Authority and the Department of Health and Children in the matter. Within a few months, €1 million was spent on that nursing home. That particular night I arrived unannounced and somebody did not want to let me in. I told them if we had visiting committees for prisons which were allowed into prisons at any hour of the night, as an elected representative I was allowed into a nursing home to see the conditions and how my constituents were being treated. What I saw that night was probably the worst I ever saw during my political career.

I compliment everybody involved in the change. A great deal of money was spent. Last week, I attended a funeral in the area and I decided to see what the facilities are like at the nursing home now. I must state they are top class and as good as any hotel in the country not to mind nursing home. It is a public facility. That change happened because I cried and shouted and got the Western Health Board, the Health and Safety Authority and the media to see what went on. That is not the way to do business but it had to be done.

The way the Western Health Board, the Minister and some elected officials responded was to do a big clean-up a few months later. The place was painted and a public day for the media and elected representatives was held. Really, it was a lashing day for me. The day which counted most was the day of the election when the people spoke. In that area, I received eight out of every ten votes cast. The public knew what I stated was correct and they responded. I am delighted the facilities improved.

I raised the issue of the inspectorate on many occasions in the Dáil. I argued the Department should get an independent inspectorate not only for private nursing homes, but also for public nursing homes. I welcome this Bill, although it is late. It is pointless having an inspectorate if it is not independent and does not have the powers to deal with situations. When I or members of the public write to it, the inspectorate must not state in reply that it has no power. I have great respect for the Office of the Ombudsman, but we have other ombudsman positions and agencies which do not have any power, such as that dealing with consumer affairs. We establish agencies and remove power from the Dáil and responsibility from the Minister. In reality, nobody takes responsibility anymore.

The elderly are frightened. If this happened in any other country, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and our great Taoiseach would lecture that country. From the day they are born until the day they die, people are taxed. This Government now proposes to tax the elderly after they die. We will have a death tax.

Elderly people will wonder whether their loved ones will be able to pay the nursing home bill after they are gone. They will have further worries on their death beds. The elderly made this country what it is today. We are the next generation of elderly people and we will be judged by the generation after us on how we treat people now. We have let down the elderly and frightened them regarding their nursing home care.

We had a changeover from the health boards to the HSE. What happened is similar to the change which occurred in local government. All that happened is bums sit on different seats. People have better pay, more perks and are answerable to nobody. I was never on a health board and have no vested interest. The media was wrong to home in on the elected members. At least when they were there they could ask questions, raise issues and make the chief executive accountable. Nobody is accountable under the new system. Everyone ran for cover.

We have never had as much money or as many people working. We make plans and spend money and are told everything is rosy in the garden. Why is it then that every day in my office and at every clinic I attend members of the public seek beds for their elderly loved ones who are entitled to them? It is said the State should provide a bed. Doctors and executives of the HSE force people entitled to public beds into the private sector and frighten them. Some people have no one to speak up for them. They have no relatives. They are frightened and do not know what to do.

Previously, when one was sick one got a doctor and a nurse. Now, when one is old the first thing one gets is a subvention form for the private sector. What is the Health Service Executive doing? It is not paid by the taxpayers to support the private sector. The private sector is well able to represent itself. If somebody is over 70 years of age, he or she has a medical card and if a doctor states he or she needs a long-term bed, it is the duty of the Health Service Executive to provide that bed. It should not throw forms seeking subventions at those people, their relatives, neighbours or friends.

What is gone wrong in this country? We used to have a sense of community. I heard the Taoiseach speaking about community. He must begin to practise what he preaches. We no longer have a community. We have become mean and people only care about themselves. Forget about the person who is sick or needs help. Forget about who we are supposed to represent, namely, the old, sick and those dependent on the State, because no-one represents them.

These people do not seek something for nothing. They worked during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s when things were not as good as they are now. What do we do when the tide turns on them after they worked hard and paid their taxes, some of them at 60%? When they turn 70, 75 or 76 years of age they want to know a State bed is there for them. That is not happening.

I no longer know what is happening in the health service. When things were bad one could always get a GP. Recently, I attended the funeral of a man who died suddenly late at night. I am open to correction on the time but I believe it was 11 p.m. or 12 a.m. The people with him rang for a doctor and got on to WestDoc. They might as well have phoned Australia, New York or Nigeria because the first question that was asked as the man lay on the floor dying was what age he was and how was he healthwise. The people making the call wanted a doctor immediately. They did not want to know what age he was. The man died. A few hours later, somebody called to ask how to get to where the man lived.

We never paid as much money to GPs for drug subsidies or to open surgeries if they save money on drugs and we never had a worse service for the people. Nobody can be reached at weekends. One gets through to WestDoc and one is as well to get on to Australia. What has gone wrong?

Last Friday, the mother of a 24 year old man came to my clinic. The man was working after qualifying with a degree. During Christmas he lost his sight, perhaps due to a stroke. He cannot get a scan for three or four months. Why must a young lad of 24 years of age wait four months for a scan when he has his full life to live? Perhaps a great deal of damage will have been done after four months.

The Minister for Health and Children and the Government state there has never been as much money invested in health and there has never been as much money in the country. Another mother told me about her child who has a bleed at the back of her head. She has waited for a number of weeks but cannot get a bed in Beaumont Hospital.

I heard Archbishop Martin from Dublin speaking about the row about the children's hospital. We would be far better off if these boards thought of these hospitals as national hospitals and not Dublin hospitals. Why are people from throughout the country being brought into a city which is already clogged up? One cannot get up and down the streets of this city from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. due to traffic. What is wrong with these planners? Why do they not think about the people from Donegal and Mayo who must bring their sick children into Dublin? Some of them do not know Dublin and some of them will not get parking outside the hospital. I do not wish to get involved in this row. However, they should be more reasonable and look around for an alternative site. Why does everything have to be located in Dublin? Why can we not take the hospital outside the city so people can drive to it from all over the country? Sick people will be coming to this national hospital from all over the country. Why do we not try to make it easy for them? I am not getting involved in the row over whether it is right or wrong or whether we should have one hospital or three. The only row in which I am getting involved is in respect of the site and location of the hospital. It does not make economic sense to bring people from Westport and Belmullet to the Mater Hospital when one cannot get up or down the streets due to traffic, cannot get parking and when people who do not know the city will have sick children with them. Traffic wardens and clampers will clamp these people's cars with sick children inside. It is time a bit of sense prevailed and that people started thinking about each other rather than themselves.

People are very worried about the proposal by the Minister for Health and Children in respect of long-term care. The Minister and Government should reassure people, particularly elderly people, who are frightened and feel nobody is listening to them.

I previously raised another issue with the Minister of State who wrote back to me, for which I give him credit. He investigated the matter and did his best, but the issue will not go away. It concerns the savage attack, a word I wish to put on the record, on the elderly in Roscommon, Galway and, in particular, Mayo where the State will not even help a person on social welfare to go to his or her hospital appointments. People are cancelling vital hospital appointments because they cannot afford to travel to them. This is the same HSE which brought its staff down to a big hotel and spent thousands of euro on wining and dining them while they talked about the HSE, its services and the job they are doing. I am sure they clapped each other on the back at 2 a.m. after having their lovely dinner in their lovely hotel.

The Minister knows about the case to which I am referring because I sent details of it to him. The person had undergone a heart transplant and other major surgery in the past but could not be brought from north Mayo to the hospital appointment in Dublin. Elderly people receiving pensions of over €200 per week, formerly €178 per week, cannot be brought to hospitals in Sligo and Galway. It would cost them €200 to get a taxi from Belmullet to Galway or Dublin. If we are serious about health and the elderly, the Minister of State and his Department must act because they will face another scandal. Someone will take this matter to the Four Courts and we will again be paying back money to people and rightly so. It is a sad day when people have to go to court to get their rights when Ministers and the Government will not provide them.

If someone on a low income is sick and needs an ambulance or assistance from the HSE western area, this should be put in place. They should not be affected because of inefficient people who are unable to run the transport service and have let it run over budget over the last number of years. My blood boiled when I read a newspaper report last week which I believe concerned WestDoc. I read about them buying a fleet of new vehicles for the services. I have the photograph because I intend to raise it on the Adjournment. I tabled a parliamentary question about how much these vehicles cost and experienced great difficulty in getting an answer. Vehicles and jobs for retired people are more important than people needing transport. Some people are leaving the public service, getting jobs with WestDoc and driving beautiful vehicles. When one of my constituents was dying on the floor the other night, the only questions that could be asked over the telephone were what his age and condition were. This is not the kind of health service we want. If we are serious about health and the elderly, we should be out there providing the service for them.

Has my time concluded?

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