Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion.

Head injury and related trauma is a lottery in Ireland, which I can state from my own personal experience of its effects. Three years ago, my wife was taken to the accident and emergency department of Cork University Hospital because she suffered a very serious fall. While she lay unconscious and under examination, the doctor explained that due to the complexity of brain injuries, it was far too early to indicate how serious the accident was and much too early to indicate the long-term consequences of the injury.

I recall the very words used by the doctor that evening. She stated that head injuries are "like a lottery," as sometimes people make a full recovery and sometimes they do not. There is no timeframe or definite outcome with regard to the recovery. It comes down simply to how quickly the patient is admitted and how he or she can be best supported on the road to recovery. In the words used by the doctor, it is a lottery. The accident is a lottery in terms of seriousness when the person comes in the door of an accident and emergency department, and the manner in which the patient will recover is also a lottery.

In my wife's case, we were very lucky and she made a full recovery over a matter of months. I specifically use "we" because living with the consequences of a head injury does not just affect the victim, but his or her family, relations and extended network as well. Head injury is a "we" injury, not an "I" injury or a one-person injury.

We were lucky in that lottery but others are not. It should not be a game of chance when somebody has a serious head injury or stroke in this country. It should not be a matter of being lucky to live close to a hospital, as in our case that night. It should not be a matter of being lucky that there just happened to be a neurological surgeon on duty that night, by the grace of God.

It should not be a matter of bad luck to learn that if a person survives the initial trauma of the injury, he or she will have to wait another two years to begin the road to recovery. We were lucky we did not have to travel that road but thousands of head injury and stroke victims must face it every year. That is two years of being denied the right to services which would radically improve their quality of life and chances of recovery. It is simply unacceptable.

I will restate a number of points made by my party colleague, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, when she brought the matter before the House last night. I acknowledge the work of Headway Ireland, Brí — the acquired brain injuries association — Brainwave, the Irish Epilepsy Association, the Peter Bradley Foundation and others. These are all non-State services. It is outrageous that the drivers of head injury and related services are completely in the non-State sector. Meanwhile, the Government, the senior Minister and everybody sitting at the Cabinet table has abdicated from a strategy which was supposed to be put in place ten years ago. It is outrageous.

I pose again the question asked by Deputy Kathleen Lynch of the Minister relating to patients with neuro-disabilities in the HSE south area. Will the Minister quantify financially, with regard to lost beds, the cost arising from the delays in discharge or transfer to rehabilitation services? An answer was given in an Evening Echo article earlier this year. It stated that a survey of admissions for acute stroke victims to Cork city hospitals was carried out in 2001 as part of a proposal for a stroke unit developed by medics at the hospital. The findings demonstrated how, over a two-month period, the three Cork city acute hospitals admitted a total of 72 stroke cases. The mean age was 70 and the mean length of hospital stay was over 20 days. The total number of hospital bed days consumed was almost 1,500. According to one of the doctors involved in the report, if the region's acute hospitals had stroke units in place, they would cut the average length of stay for stroke victims by six days. This would mean 440 beds would be saved in two months, with an average of over 2,500 bed days saved per year.

Stroke and serious head trauma injuries are life-changing circumstances but they should not be a life sentence of delayed recovery, which is currently the case. There is an absence of a national strategy, localised regional service and political leadership from those currently in Government. Treatment in respect of serious head injuries and stroke will continue to be a lottery under this Government and people will remain dependent on luck.

See this speech in context