Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I was called upon by the Chair in any event. I am pleased to have the opportunity to make a contribution, however short, on these important matters. This is the fourth opportunity we have had since last October to discuss cancer services, particularly in the midlands, and cancer reports. We can dwell on the past but it is an exercise in futility. I agree with Deputy O'Rourke that we must now look forward to see what lessons can and will be learned, and how the learning of these lessons will affect the people of the midlands.

The Doherty and O'Doherty reports represent a litany of failures in mammography services in Portlaoise. These reports outlined the grave and systemic weaknesses that led to nine women from the midlands being erroneously given the all-clear for breast cancer. I join with other Deputies who wished these women and their families well in their recovery.

It is now some weeks since these reports were published and the hospital community in Portlaoise, and the people of Laois, are still reeling in their aftermath. Services have been suspended indefinitely and the women of the midlands are being referred to Dublin hospitals, which have neither the capacity nor the resources to cope with the additional demand for services. At one stage we were told people in the midlands were being transferred to St. Vincent's, on other occasions they were going to St. James's; there appears to be a lack of clarity about which hospitals are providing services to treat the women in the midlands. There is also the question of transport and arrangement of schedules. The position is far less than satisfactory.

With regard to other cancer services, Portlaoise currently has the longest waiting list for colonoscopies in the entire country. The people of the midlands are left waiting a full 18 months for a vital routine procedure. I ask the Minister to address the matter. In regard to other services at Portlaoise, the maternity unit is grossly understaffed, to the point where health and safety is in jeopardy. I call on the Minister to direct officers from HIQA to visit the maternity unit in Portlaoise and publish an early report, as there are health and safety issues of a significant degree where women are having children in waiting rooms and conditions far less than satisfactory.

A new unit which does not even provide the necessary capacity has been mooted but there has been no progress. The accident and emergency unit at the hospital is a national disgrace. A new unit has been provided but remains under lock and key, inaccessible to staff and patients. The position is of grave concern. In short, Portlaoise hospital has been exposed as one where a range of factors resulted in a shocking series of misdiagnosis in the past, and now both the hospital and the people of the midlands are being punished.

It is regrettable that the Minister has not visited Portlaoise hospital since the issue arose last autumn and it is even more regrettable Professor Drumm has not visited the hospital. I ask both to visit the hospital as a morale-boosting exercise and to at least talk to the staff and people, seeing at first hand the type of service available to the Laois population.

All units of the hospital remain dangerously underresourced. Staff morale is at an all-time low and the HSE has done nothing to assure the people of the midlands it has made changes to ensure better services are available. What has been done to assure people that consultants' letters to Ministers will not be ignored in the future to the same extent as they were in the past? What has been done to put the mammography services at the hospital back on track?

Where is the old equipment featured in the reports and is it still being used for the provision of vital readings? Has the equipment been replaced and if so, where is the new equipment? The CT scanner that was under-resourced for such a long period now operates on an nine-to-five basis. What is the position at weekends? People are referred to Waterford, Dublin or Tullamore. These issues should have been addressed in the context of the reports, particularly if confidence in the services is to be restored.

What strategic plan, if any, is in place for Portlaoise hospital? Will it be the whipping boy as regards the closure and downgrading of regional services throughout the country? Will mammography screening and maternity services be restored? Will resources be provided in respect of the mammography service? Will the HSE continue to scale down all aspects of hospital services at Portlaoise? I want to know what is the plan and the Minister should seek details of it. The plan is less than certain and the proposals are less than definite and highly unsatisfactory because we simply do not know what is the position.

Neither do we know to where the women and other people of the midlands are to go under the new regime of regional centres. I do not have a difficulty, in principle, with regional centres for cancer care, notwithstanding the fact that it is not proposed to situate such a centre in the midlands. I have no problem with that provided the people of my constituency and beyond are given assurances that they will have access to the type of vital treatment services which they deserve and which are necessary.

The Health Service Executive and the Minister for Health and Children have conspired to create an information vacuum in respect of what is happening, particularly in the context of the hundreds of thousands of people in the midlands who are going to lose their services. Parliamentary questions tabled by Deputies remain unanswered. I recently experienced a farcical situation where I left a meeting in Tullamore stating that I would be obliged to progress a particular matter by way of parliamentary question and where said question was referred by the Minister's office to that of Professor Drumm and, in turn, sent back to the gentleman with whom I had originally been dealing. The latter was asked to reply but indicated that because the matter involved funding it was not proper to him and he had no information in respect of it. What I experienced was a complete affront to the entire democratic process. Neither the Minister, the HSE nor the hospital appear to be accountable to the people or their public representatives.

Some time ago I called on the HSE — I do so again today — to introduce a structured schedule of public meetings to be attended by senior hospital personnel in the midlands. Such meetings are essential if public confidence in the hospital services available to the people of the region is to be restored. Service providers and hospitals must be able, at all times, to institute clear lines of communication with their patients and prospective patients. Patients and their families offer a very valuable resource to hospital managers who wish to improve their standard to care and address deficiencies.

I am suggesting that the general manager, medical director and director of nursing of each hospital in the region should be prepared to meet elected representatives and members of the public on a regular basis. They should be prepared to discuss their hospitals and the plans they have for them, put their service plans in the public domain and talk to the local media. Information is vital and the restoration of the confidence of the people of Portlaoise and the midlands is an essential task which, regrettably, has been ignored since the publication of these reports six weeks ago.

Nothing less than a schedule of public meetings will be appropriate, particularly if the hospital in Portlaoise is to have a vibrant future. Despite the fact that they are currently being treated as such by the HSE and the Department of Health and Children, people in Laois-Offaly and the wider midlands region are not second-class citizens.

The Minister likes to refer to the powers she does not possess. As a result, I sometimes wonder about the Department of Health and Children and the role and function of the Minister. She has powers to ensure that the lines of communication between the people of the midlands and the hospital in Portlaoise are opened and kept that way. The current situation is a complete farce. People are rightly frustrated, fearful and angry. They believe they deserve better from the Minister and the HSE and they are right to do so. They want answers and they want to know that lessons will be learned and an action plan put in place.

The consequences of the Doherty and O'Doherty reports cannot be that Portlaoise hospital is condemned to limbo on an indefinite basis. It needs a strategic plan and a schedule of structured funding. People must be informed as to what is happening, which is the least they deserve. The Minister must provide leadership in that regard.

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