Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to bring to the Minister of State's attention, if it is indeed necessary to do so, SI 236 of 2009, which provides for minimum standards of health care. It goes without saying that the standards contained in the statutory instrument are to be welcomed and are desirable. The statutory instrument reads: "The registered provider shall not use premises for the purposes of a designated centre unless the premises are suitable for the purpose of achieving the aims and objectives set out in the statement of purpose". The statement of purpose, contained at paragraph 10, reads:

The registered provider shall ensure that residents are provided with:...

(c) privacy, insofar as is reasonably practicable, to the extent that the resident is able to undertake personal activities in private;

As the Minister of State is undoubtedly aware, the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, was tasked with extrapolating more detailed national standards from this provision. No one could take issue with the statement that all elderly people in care in public and private facilities should have sufficient privacy and dignity to perform whatever functions they require. Under HIQA's extrapolation, however, existing bedrooms that are currently shared must have at least 7.4 m per resident.

Within six years of implementation of the standards, there are to be no more than two residents per room, except in high-dependency rooms, which shall have up to six highly dependent residents.

Since getting elected I have spent time visiting the State facilities for community care across County Clare. There are three facilities, in Raheen Hospital, Stella Maris and Ennistymon. I spent a lot of time in St. Joseph’s Hospital in Ennis for personal reasons. I express my thanks to the staff of St. Joseph’s for the excellent standard of care which they provide. I am pleased to say the standard of care was vindicated in a recent HIQA investigation in St. Joseph’s at the end of 2012. An inspection was carried out on 27 and 28 November. However, the fact that St. Joseph’s, like the great majority of such facilities across the country, is a relatively old establishment, unsurprisingly, it was found not to comply with the standard of having only two residents per room.

While I was there I took the opportunity to discuss the issue with residents. A close relative of mine who was there likewise, discussed matters with her fellow residents. There is not unanimity among residents on the facilities. Not all of them would like to be in single rooms or rooms of two people. In many instances, people prefer to be in larger rooms. That is not to say the standard should be lowered in any way or that people do not want their privacy to be respected. Of course they do. However, to extrapolate from respecting privacy to putting people in single and double rooms exclusively is questionable. I question whether it is feasible. It has been acknowledged by the HSE that there would be great difficulty in bringing St. Joseph’s into line with the requirement of single and double rooms. Likewise, with the facilities in Kilrush and Raheen, and to a slightly lesser extent in Ennistymon. I speak of County Clare but I am sure the situation is mirrored across the country.

I do not for a moment wish to appear to advocate a lower standard for residents in such institutions. That is not the case at all. However, I wonder about the extent to which the views of residents have been canvassed and their opinions sought when it was determined that it was in their best interests to be in single rooms. Many people would love to get out of private facilities where they have single rooms and to get into public facilities where they share rooms and have companionship, regardless of the reason they are in the facilities.

A second issue to which I would like to bring to the attention of the Minister of State is the manner in which the inspections are carried out. I refer to a facility that is not in my constituency; it is in the constituency of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, namely, St. Anne’s in Woodford on the Clare and Galway border. A follow-up inspection was carried out on 19 October 2011 and, by and large, it was unfavourable. Fire hazards were not raised at all. In February 2012 a further inspection was carried out and the facility was closed within 24 hours. I do not understand how no issue relating to fire hazard could arise in October 2011 yet the following February the facility was to be closed within 24 hours, which created considerable difficulty for many elderly residents who had to be moved. Some of them had spent a long period of time there and the nature of their departure created much turmoil for them and their families. Nobody from HIQA was prepared to meet with any of the relatives to explain how the closure came about. There seems to be no redress.

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