Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

I am delighted to speak on the Clotting Factor Concentrates and other Biological Products Bill 2012. I compliment the Minister on bringing forward the Bill to protect the health of consumers of clotting factor concentrates and other biological medicinal products and to transfer responsibility for the procurement of such products from the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and St. James's Hospital, which will be the contract holder and will take the advice of the Product Selection and Monitoring Advisory Board, which is important.

Size does not matter but a group of our citizens were betrayed by the system of governance. I refer to haemophiliacs. The Lindsay tribunal was a sad episode in our history. There have been many failures of governance but that was one of the saddest. I welcome the setting up of the product advisory board to support the people affected, and the ongoing supports which are badly needed.

I have been a critic of the Minister but I welcome his open, honest and frank contribution, even if he strayed somewhat from the Bill. It was enlightening to hear his ideas and I welcome his honesty. His expertise in that area must be acknowledged also because he is a practitioner of some renown and must understand, better than me as a lay person, many aspects of the functioning of the Health Service Executive and the delivery of patient care.

I have been critical of the failure of the HSE to transpose best practice. When it was set up it amalgamated health boards. It is too big with too many managers and not enough front line services. The Minister referred to that. He also said all patients treated for blood disorders or other ailments last year were seen by a consultant inside 12 months. That is not a proud boast for any Minister but I compliment him on the slight improvement. He is hoping to reduce the time to nine months this year. I wish him well with that, especially given the huge reductions in public service numbers which came about on 29 February.

The Minister also mentioned the Croke Park agreement. I hope and pray it will allow enough flexibility to reduce waiting times on trolleys, which is the bottom line for any service user who has to leave a place of work, home or whatever and avail of front line services. The Minister, I understand, said 101,000 staff remain in the HSE. They get a lot of criticism, even from me, and many do not deserve it. The system hides the many positive and good things that happen.

While the Bill may be described as technical and simple, it will give St. James's Hospital the authority to purchase and supply the national stock of products. The procurement process includes an assessment of all products by relevant clinical and scientific experts, which we should never forget, and provides assurance that the consumers of the products, who are the most important people and mainly comprise those from the haemophilia community, are getting the safest products possible. That cannot elude any of our thoughts or words. There was a great betrayal of trust and safety in the past and we must never allow that to happen again to any group, let alone those with haemophilia.

With St. James's Hospital procuring products and no further need to provide commission to a third party, the State is getting much better value for money, which must be welcomed. There are projected savings. The Minister alluded to the fact that consumption of these products had increased, which is understandable. There will be ebbs and flows. The previous Minister tried to implement savings in pharmacy services and saw resistance to that. They do a good job on a seven day a week basis on the front line. She also tried, with some difficulty, to achieve savings from the main suppliers of generic drugs. The more savings we can achieve the better. Sadly, there was a lot of waste over the years. The safe delivery of products to the public is vital, along with value for money.

The Minister alluded to VHI costs and the survey of 12,000 patients in nursing homes. I am pleased the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, is in the House because I fought with her over proposed community services in Tipperary. I am not opposed to them, rather I want to see them in place before institutions are closed. Fewer than half of the 12,000 patients in elder care were consulted on whether they had facilities at home or could avail of step-down facilities in the community which could deal with them efficiently rather than placing them in long-stay nursing homes. None of us like to see any families in such situations and I am sure that patients concerned would not like to end up in them. We have all been in nursing homes and while the staff do their best it can be a lonely existence. We have to support the different facilities available, which may not be nursing homes. Different types of therapies are available outside institutional care.

The Minister referred to home helps and home care packages. However, such services are being reduced and until the situation is sorted out there will be huge costs to the State. The system would work better and people are happier when they are at home in their own environment, no matter what they are suffering from. There must be tiered support. People who do not need to be in nursing homes should not be there. I welcome the commitment of the Minister to reduce waiting times on trolleys.

South Tipperary is the home of the pharmaceutical industry. It is an area with innovators, innovative ideas and new medicines. I compliment Merck, Sharp & Dohme, Boston Scientific and Abbott Vascular which do great work and produce outstanding products. They create huge employment and provide valuable expertise in the delivery of medicine. I also compliment Clonmel Healthcare and Pinewood Healthcare. I am not being parochial, some of the companies I referred to are world leaders.

I am pleased the Bill is being introduced because the different sections are all relevant and pertinent. I understand we are trying to amend the 1961 Act. It is a pity primary legislation is required but I welcome the fact the matter is being dealt with. Section 1 refers to the transfer of powers to St. James's Hospital from the IBTS, which did a good job for which it must be recognised. St. James's Hospital has more expertise and is more qualified to deal with blood products but could not supply them to other hospitals and service users. It is very important such products are readily available and the hospital has in-house expertise.

The Minister also said hospitals can be very intimidating. Nobody goes to hospital unless he or she has to. He also mentioned the winter vomiting bug. Hospitals can be thronged with people and if people do not need to be there they should not be.

See this speech in context