Dáil debates

Tuesday, 26 June 2007

 

Co-location of Hospitals: Motion.

9:00 pm

Photo of Liz McManusLiz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

I wish to respond to what the Minister, Deputy Mary Harney, said and I am sorry she is not in the House. In her reply to the Fine Gael motion she took the opportunity yet again to promote myths and I regard it as important to put the record straight. She referred to Professor Drumm and stated she had never heard his view on this project. I quote him:

We have to be extremely careful that we do not drive through the front gates of our hospitals and find the road to the left to the nice flowered structure with a fountain in front where those who can afford it go to that structure and someone else goes sheepishly in the other direction towards the HSE hospital.

That is precisely what will happen if there is co-location. With regard to Professor Drumm and the approach adopted by the Minister, I have written to her asking her to explain on what statutory basis she issued the directive to the HSE in 2005 to proceed with co-location. Serious legal issues are involved in her failure to reply to me. I again ask her to explain exactly what is the statutory basis for her directive to the HSE.

The Minister promoted another myth when she said her position was to provide beds and care as close to home as possible. There are 1,500 beds to be provided under the programme for Government, but the bulk of them, 1,000 beds, will not be provided as close to home as possible; under the scheme they will be provided where money can be made. It should be remembered that 1,500 beds is far short of the 3,000 which the Government considered necessary and well below the broad figure of up to 3,000 which the ESRI has given.

Another myth promulgated by the Minister this evening was that Tallaght Hospital was not bullied. We all know that it was, unless the Minister has some strange view about what undue pressure means. Tallaght Hospital needs 200 extra beds but it has not a chance in hell of getting them, unless it succumbs to the demand from the Minister and the HSE to go for co-location. I call that bullying, as would any reasonable person, but the Minister still comes into the House and promotes a myth.

The Minister refers to accident and emergency departments where there will be two streams. The money will follow the insured patient which will ensure patients with private insurance will be able to fast-track access to the care they need. This is the way of the world and the way it happens. It is another myth to presume that somehow things will be different in accident and emergency departments; they will not.

The Minister promotes the myth that private beds in public hospitals are solely used by private patients but this is not true either. They are certainly used by insured patients but private single rooms are also used to protect patients from the spread of hospital infections such as MRSA. They are also used for patients who are dying.

In one hospital, it was estimated that 40% of private beds were used for purposes other than to provide for insured patients. The Minister once again speaks as if private patients will go only to private hospitals, but that is not true either. Every patient in the State is entitled to attend a public hospital, and many of them will choose to stay there to gain access to its broad range of care. They may have to do so, but they may also choose to do so if they so wish. It is one part of the two-tier health service that we will see worsen rather than improve under this Government of Fianna Fáil, the Progressive Democrats and the Green Party.

The final myth is that private institutions such as St. Vincent's Hospital and the Mater Hospital started on the same basis as the new co-locate hospitals. Unless the Minister does not grasp the difference between a religious order and a for-profit corporation interested only in making money for its shareholders, she has deliberately muddied the waters instead of telling things as they are. That is surprising, since the Minister's reputation would suggest otherwise. Then again, many of us know better.

I congratulate Deputy Brian Hayes on his election to this House and his successful elevation to the position of his party's spokesperson on health. I regret the loss of former Deputy Twomey, who did an excellent job.

I forgot to mention that I would like to share my time with Deputy Higgins.

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