Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

Both Waterford city and County Waterford require substantially more public continuing care beds for elderly patients. The decision to close St. Bridget's ward at St. Patrick's Hospital, Waterford with the loss of 19 beds beggars belief and is nothing short of a money saving exercise, justified on highly questionable health and safety grounds. There is an extensive waiting list for St. Patrick's Hospital. There are patients in short-term contract beds in private nursing homes or in the community who encounter major or insurmountable financial difficulties in terms of taking up or staying in long-term beds in private nursing homes while awaiting a public bed. This situation is worsened in the absence of the long awaited appropriate new funding mechanism.

There is a crisis situation in the community and yet the HSE has decided to eliminate 19 public beds from St. Patrick's Hospital. Patients in the hospital are to be transferred to other wards and the hospital is to cease taking admissions. The HSE says the closure is necessary for health and safety reasons but the rest of the hospital will remain open.

The HSE has also stated that there is no question of St. Patrick's Hospital being shut down entirely. The Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, is on record as stating that if the HSE does not close St. Bridget's ward, then the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, will do so. The Minister, Deputy Harney, is further quoted as stating that the new standards for the care of the elderly come into effect this summer and will be implemented by the HIQA. These assertions need to be fully substantiated. They are questioned by the excellent and dedicated staff of St. Patrick's Hospital. The HSE states that the provision of a new 50 bed unit is a priority. The Minister of State, Deputy McGuinness, should note that some 30% of the beds at St. Patrick's Hospital are occupied by patients from south Kilkenny. Opposition to the closure of St. Bridget's ward is widespread, not only in Waterford but among the broad community of south Kilkenny.

The Friends of St. Patrick's organisation has contributed substantially to the hospital for many years and will continue to do so. It is eminently reasonable to request if, as stated by Mr. Pat Healy, assistant national director of primary and continuing care, the new 50 bed unit for Waterford is the priority project with the HSE, why the project is not being fast-tracked and why the beds in St. Bridget's ward do not remain in use until such time as the new unit is up and running.

Officials of the HSE have stated that a total of 30 beds are to be acquired in the private sector in the Waterford community care area that will have the same clinical back-up as the patients in St. Patrick's. That is difficult to believe. There needs to be much more clarification on the health and safety issue and the HIQA standards which are being used as an excuse for closing down the more expensive St. Patrick's Hospital long-stay beds with their hospital support to be replaced by cheaper beds in the private sector. This is an exercise in privatising the health service.

It is totally unacceptable that the elderly patients of Waterford and South Kilkenny and their relatives are caused to suffer in this way and I am calling on the Minister to make sure that St. Brigid's ward remains open until such time as the alternative public long stay beds are available in the new 50 bed unit.

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