Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hope this matter will be more engaging than the last debate between the Minister for Justice and Equality and the former Minister who was shamed out of office because of the false affidavit he provided against a colleague of mine.

This issue is one I have been raising in the House nearly every sitting day for the last three weeks and I am delighted it has been selected. It concerns a number of community hospitals across Donegal. We have seen in recent months a huge turnout of ordinary people who are seriously concerned about the future of their community hospitals and the services they have provided and will provide into the future. They have come out in support of Dungloe Community Hospital, Carndonagh Community Hospital and St. Joseph's Community Hospital in Stranorlar as these vital community services are faced with further cutbacks.

I am not sure if the Minister of State is aware of Dungloe Community Hospital but it is a fine facility with 35 beds. The Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, visited that hospital last year to open a new wing, which cost €600,000, including the equipment that was needed for it. While there, the Minister acknowledged the impeccable care, staff and services at the hospital. Barely a year later, however, ten beds in that hospital are lying empty, two of which were provided by the community through fundraising efforts over a long period. Those two beds were traditionally used for palliative care due to the fact they were in private single rooms. The local HSE management explained to me in May of this year that the decision taken to temporarily close the beds was due to an increase in long-term sick leave, a number of staff retirements and planned maternity leave, with the moratorium on recruitment restricting its ability to replace these staff. The HSE was very clear as to why these beds were lying empty and closed.

Meanwhile, St. Joseph's Community Hospital in Stranorlar, which is the largest community hospital in Donegal, is also faced with the loss of ten beds, which is in addition to the 13 beds this hospital has seen closed in recent years. Since the recruitment moratorium was introduced, the level of nursing staff at St. Joseph's Community Hospital in Stranorlar has reduced from 37 whole-time equivalents to 25, and in non-nursing grades there has been a reduction of six front-line workers. A recently published HIQA report on St. Joseph's stated: "At the time of inspection there were 10 staff off through illness, five nurses and five carers", in addition to one retirement. The confidential HSE public service agreement, PSA, document, to which I have access, states that the St. Joseph's management team has indicated its staffing levels are an increased risk and that this increases the potential risk of an adverse incident to a client. That is a stark warning in a HSE document on staffing levels and the impact of the moratorium. While the document is confidential, it has thankfully seen the light of day.

My question, which I ask on behalf of the many hundreds of people in Donegal who have turned out at community meetings to express their concern, is how the Government expects community hospitals to maintain the highest standards of patient care if it will not provide the resources required. Local HSE management confirmed to Oireachtas Members recently that the population of over 65s in County Donegal is set to double within ten years, so it is clear there is a greater need for community hospitals and extra beds if we are to avert the crisis that is facing us. However, that is not what we are seeing on the ground. Carndonagh, Dungloe and St. Joseph's community hospital have all lost beds. This all comes on the back of beds that have been lost in these hospitals in the past two years.

I ask the Minister to take urgent steps to address the situation. While we understand the pressures the Government is under, it is wrong to cut front-line resources and impose a moratorium so strictly where we know the need exists to open these beds, some of which were funded by the community. Beds in our hospitals are lying empty and the reason for this is the recruitment moratorium. I ask the Minister to consider that the necessary supports be put in place to allow our public sector workers to carry out the task they are qualified to do, which is to look after our elderly and not so elderly in the community hospitals in Donegal.

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