Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion and I am very happy to be associated with it. I wish to read a response I received from Beaumont Hospital to representations about a patient. The case concerns an adult with hearing loss due to a virus. The clinic is the same as that used for the children in question. The adult is a lone parent with a child with special needs. The kind of response that applies is very similar, irrespective of whether a child or an adult is involved. Those responsible for the national cochlear implant programme wrote to me stating:

The team understands and appreciates the significant difficulties those with bilateral profound hearing loss have, especially with limited access to speech using high powered hearing aids and little to no lip-reading skills [which clearly children will not have] ... Unfortunately, this is a very common thread among those currently under assessment for a cochlear implant. Ideally, the CI team would like to limit the time from initial clinic assessment to cochlear implant surgery in order to provide rapid quality service to those people on this programme. However, given current constraints, including finances, theatre time, testing facilities, and staffing levels, the team is not able to achieve this goal. As this is a strictly publicly funded service we work within the means available to deliver a multidisciplinary service as best we can to those under assessment and the 700+ currently implanted CI users who are under this programme's care.

The letter states the hospital is very sympathetic which, of course, it is, but it must be provided with the opportunity to be more than sympathetic. Finances and theatres are critical if we are to make a difference for children or adults.

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