Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Reilly for providing us with the opportunity to speak on cystic fibrosis this afternoon. An independent review of cystic fibrosis services in Ireland carried out by Dr. Ron Pollock was published on 7 February 2005. It showed that the majority of adults with cystic fibrosis were being treated in inadequate and dangerous facilities. Little has changed since that publication, despite the availability of resources.

Following the publication of the Pollock report, the HSE established a working group in May 2005 to undertake a detailed review of CF services. Although the group accepted the recommendations of the Pollock report and finished its work in August 2006, the HSE has still not published its findings. It is very important that the Minister indicate today when they will be published. The reason for non-publication, I believe, is that the Government does not want to put the recommendations in place.

As previous speakers have said, the Republic of Ireland has the highest incidence of CF in the world. While the severity varies from person to person, the average severity of CF in this State is greater than that in other areas such as Northern Ireland, the United States and Canada. Therefore the need for resources to treat cystic fibrosis patients is greater here. There is an ongoing need for inpatient care and designated inpatient service beds for adults and children with cystic fibrosis in keeping with international standards because they are uniquely prone to particular infections. Inpatients with CF should be treated in single en suite rooms.

I want to refer, in particular, to services in Cork University Hospital because they affect my constituency in Kerry. There are some 44 patients in Kerry and I recall a number of Deputies raising the issue of Billy Burke from Killorglin, some years ago, who has since died. There is a group in Kerry, Build 4 Life, whose chairman is Mr. Joe Browne, which has collected €1.5 million for the centre in Cork. For the Minister of State's benefit, the CUH is the second largest centre in the country. It treats about 200 patients as against St. Vincent's 300. It is very important that facilities be provided in CUH as soon as possible. The money that is available could provide a day unit, which the Minister mentioned here today, and also a protective unit of eight to 11 beds. There is a proposal for Dublin. There are builders who could construct both the day unit and the protective unit for this money if given the opportunity. That is all I am saying. It is very important that in Cork the money is ring-fenced for both of these units.

As the moment in Cork patients have to share the same room, or sometimes an adjacent room in the accident and emergency unit with patients suffering from other ailments. As previous speakers have pointed out the threat of cross-contamination and cross-infection must be considered. CF patients cannot be exposed to the risk of infection from patients with other ailments because of their daily struggle just to stay alive. It is crucial therefore that the possible consequences of mixing patients should be taken into consideration.

CUH has a very efficient cystic fibrosis team and the services are to a very high standard. The necessary staff are available and this means no extra staff complement is required. For patients from Kerry, Cork, Waterford and Tipperary, it is very important that they can be treated relatively close to home so that they do not have to make the long arduous trip to Dublin at all times. It is great that we are discussing this here today, but it is very important that this debate lead to some real action and that there are no further delays at either St. Vincent's or CUH - especially when the finance is in place and the will exists to provide this facility if the HSE will allow it.

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