Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the opportunity this debate provides to put on the record of the House the Government's commitment and plans for rehabilitation and other services. There will always be new health services we will want to provide faster, and in better facilities. Advances in medical science alone will ensure that. As a people, I have no doubt we will also strive for constant improvement in the services we can provide in our communities within what we can afford.

I believe that a reasonable foundation for a health policy debate will recognise three things: first, the work and effort put in by all staff — clinical, management and administration — to provide and build up existing services, and the resulting improvements in health status for the Irish people that are actually being achieved; second, the real and substantial funding increases that have been provided by taxpayers in recent years, to the level of €15 billion this year for the HSE, paying for 110,000 whole-time equivalent staff; and third, the need to ensure maximum efficiency in the use of resources so the highest level of services can be delivered for a given level of funding, so that good plans are developed and implemented and priorities within set budgets are achieved. These considerations are as relevant for the development of rehabilitation services as every other part of the health service.

The motion before us refers to the National Rehabilitation Hospital. The hospital is currently a 120-bed hospital which provides treatment and rehabilitation for patients with spinal cord injuries, head injuries, amputation, traumatic and non-traumatic brain injury, strokes and neurological disorders. The allocation for the National Rehabilitation Hospital is nearly €30 million. It also provides assessments for wheelchair and mobility aids and vocational training programmes involving a wide range of social, personal and work related skills. The hospital also has a 12-bed hostel which enables patients from outside the Dublin area to access day services at the hospital and attend the vocational training unit.

A new rehabilitation hospital is part of the national development plan. When built, the new hospital will provide additional treatment and diagnostic capacity. A project team is now working with an appointed design team to develop the new hospital. The design will be submitted for planning later this year with a target completion date for the hospital of 2012.

The Health Service Executive has also informed me that plans have been prepared to develop a satellite unit of the National Rehabilitation Hospital attached to Beaumont Hospital, linking the rehabilitation expertise of the national hospital with the neurological services in Beaumont. This new proposed unit will provide acute medical rehabilitation services and early rehabilitation for those suffering from brain injury who access the national neurosciences unit at Beaumont Hospital and who currently have to access services at the National Rehabilitation Hospital. In addition, I understand that plans have been prepared in some regional areas for rehabilitation facilities.

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