James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I am aware of the challenges people with epilepsy face in managing their conditions and fully acknowledge the need for the provision of a dedicated service for all epilepsy patients. The epilepsy monitoring units in Cork and Beaumont Hospital are being developed under the HSE's national epilepsy clinical programme. I understand epilepsy monitoring is only required for the most vulnerable patients who suffer the worst effects of epilepsy. The majority of patients will have their care needs met through other epilepsy services, including the newly established rapid access clinics in four centres, Cork and Beaumont Hospital among them. The epilepsy monitoring units will increase pre-surgical evaluation capacity for those patients who may benefit from complex but potentially curative surgery. This development is, therefore, a clear priority for the programme. Patients at these units will require 24-7 care. The staffing needs to enable the units to be safely opened have been identified.

It is important to point out that there is no ban on recruitment. The Government decided that the numbers employed across the public service must be reduced in order to meet its fiscal and budgetary targets. The health sector must make its contribution to that reduction, but the HSE can make staff appointments once it remains within its overall employment ceiling and has the financial resources to do so. The normal processes will apply to the HSE's decisions on the recruitment of the required staff in Cork and Beaumont Hospital.

In regard to the staffing of the epilepsy monitoring units, the HSE has advised that Beaumont Hospital and the HSE are working jointly to fill the posts necessary to support this service development. With regard to the position in Cork, the HSE has advised that the service plan for 2013 for Cork University Hospital will be finalised in the coming weeks and that the provision of additional staff for the epilepsy monitoring unit is being considered as part of that process.

Cork and Beaumont Hospital are two of the six regional centres identified by the epilepsy clinical care programme for the provision of specialist epilepsy services. It is the intention that services will be provided by a team of nurses and consultant neurologists working as a virtual national network supporting all acute and primary care locations. Rapid access clinics providing care for the broad cohort of patients with epilepsy have been developed at Beaumont Hospital, St James's Hospital, in Galway and Limerick. As 10.5 whole-time equivalent advanced nurse practitioners, ANPs, have been recruited to lead these clinics, a total of 12 ANPs are now in place across the four centres delivering services both on site and on an outreach basis. The outreach model is facilitated by the epilepsy electronic patient record system developed by the programme which allows the ANPs to access the necessary patient information at the outreach locations. For patients, the rapid access clinic model means faster access closer to home and improved continuity of care. It is delivering tangible improvements in patient access and experience. I am committed to providing the best possible health service and will continue to work with the HSE to ensure the best outcomes for these patients.

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