Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to contribute on this important Bill. Once again, the Minister and the Ministers of State, Deputies White and Kathleen Lynch, have introduced innovative legislation. This Bill is appreciated and supported by the majority of Deputies regardless of their side of the House. This is to be welcomed.

Last week, I took great pleasure in speaking on the opt-out clause - or opt-in clause, however one views it - for organ donations. That provision was innovative. I am a member of the Irish Kidney Association. Every week, we try to raise awareness of kidney donations. Having told people for years that they should carry their cards, however, I did not even have mine in my wallet.

The question of health identifiers is one of patient safety. We must ensure the right information is associated with the right individual who is receiving care. Identifiers will allow our health services to be managed more efficiently. Deputy Olivia Mitchell is correct about how horrific it is to see that 30% of the health budget is spent on administration. We seem to have a love affair with files. I probably visit Roscommon hospital once per week. Each time, I see someone carrying a file or the files office is busy.

Contrary to what people might believe, Roscommon hospital is certainly not closed. It is actually twice as busy as it was in 2011 before the famous downgrading of its accident and emergency department. What is important is that its patients are much safer. At the time, everyone claimed that the hospital would close. This Government claimed otherwise, and now the hospital is still open. People claimed there would be job losses, but not one person has lost his or her job. In fact, more people are working there now. It was also claimed that patients would die, but not one patient has died and at least 50 lives have been saved through the use of advanced paramedics and air ambulances. Previously, if one was in an accident or suffered a cardiac arrest, an ambulance came to collect one and brought one to Roscommon's accident and emergency department to be stabilised before being sent on to Galway. People called Roscommon's accident and emergency department a real one, but it was not. It did not have a cardiac surgeon or a paediatric surgeon, someone to intubate or someone to provide night-time cover. Let us dispel the myths. The Government took HIQA's advice. Ms Tracey Cooper of HIQA stated that the department was unsafe because fewer than 20 people used it per day.

The population of County Roscommon is a little over 50,000. Where Deputy Naughten comes from in south Roscommon, people have always used the accident and emergency department in Ballinasloe. Where I come from in north Roscommon, we have always used the department in Sligo. Roscommon town has a population of 5,000 people. The days of having an accident and emergency department in every provincial or large town are a thing of the past.

However, I am happy to say that in less than two months, the turning of the sod for the new endoscopy unit will take place. That is a €5 million development and another €5 million will be provided for a palliative care wing. I hope we will have a rehabilitation consultant for the west as well. What is happening is fantastic, but patient safety is there.

It was said we would not get an air ambulance, but it has saved lives. Instead of going to any accident and emergency department, a paramedic comes out, deals with people who have heart attacks or who are in car crashes and gets them as quickly as possible to a real accident and emergency department. This issue of being more than an hour and a half from Galway is simply untrue. At least 50 lives have been saved in County Roscommon, and I ask people to call into the hospital and ask the consultants - Gerry O'Meara and Liam McMullen - if this hospital is safer, if it is busier, and whether they are satisfied with the hospital, and they will tell them. For two and a half years I have asked the local newspapers, the national media and the local radio station to make a telephone call to or to call into the hospital, but they do not want to do so. I have asked politicians to go and talk to the consultants who wrote the letter to say the accident and emergency department was unsafe, yet they still do not want to go in. It is not a race to the bottom. If politicians make a mistake, we put up our hands and say so. However, this was a good news story so people should talk to those consultants and they will tell them. For two and a half years, no one wanted to go in because when they get it wrong, they are afraid to put up their hands and say they got it wrong. I am sick and tired of everybody going on to the radio and saying that the hospital will close, people will lose their jobs, and people will die, because none of these things has happened.

I was there seven days before that famous vote. Tracey Cooper stated she would not allow the accident and emergency department to remain open because it was unsafe. It was unsafe because when only 20 people were using it per day, a cardiac surgeon there would become deskilled. People did not listen and they said that HIQA did not come to inspect it. I was there and I know what went on, and if I had to make the same decision again, there is only one decision I could make, which was the right decision.

We were talking about putting a new endoscopy unit in Roscommon, and we were talking about putting it over the current urgent care centre, which was the accident and emergency centre. It could not be done because we would have had to move the files office, and there were so many files that it would be ridiculous. It was proposed to leave the files office where it was AND to move the endoscopy into a portakabin outside, which was going to cost almost as much as the building. This was more HSE madness. What were they doing in the Past 15 years to look at health identifiers for patient safety? They did nothing and now it is all about files.

I pay tribute to the Minister of State and his team. We are working in a health system where there is 20% less in the budget and 10% fewer staff. In the face of some outrageous, sometimes misinformed and sometimes informed debate, we have kept the system going. Not everything is perfect, but this is another step in the right direction and I congratulate the Minister of State.

Employees, health professionals and service providers will have a unique identifier, and that is very welcome because, over the years, we had a reverence for doctors and consultants who we feel should know everything. They do not know everything. When I was growing up, if a person liked the drink, then he was an alcoholic but a great doctor. How could someone be a great doctor and an alcoholic at the same time? However, if someone was a tradesman and an alcoholic, he was a low-life. We had that kind of admiration of the professional classes. What is the difference between God and a consultant? God does not think he is a consultant. That is the thing with these consultants and rightly so perhaps, because they save people's lives and they work extremely hard. Between the doctors and the nurses in the hospitals, they have saved lives, but that is what health professionals are supposed to do and that is what they get paid for. They work in very difficult times, but we must cut down this love affair with professionals. With the increase in social media outlets and even being able to ask questions in the Dáil, we have broken down those mysteries that people were able to work behind.

I agree with the 2008 report of the commission on patient safety. It is building a culture of patient safety, and the development and implementation of a unique identifier for the health service was recommended. We need to look at what has happened in Scandinavian countries. They are certainly the role model and I hope the Minister of State and his team examined that model. It is much less complicated, and we always seem to like to complicate things. We need to look at the data protection issue as well. We did not have a data protection culture in this country, because a person could be tipped off by someone they knew that this or that was happening. I remember people not wanting to go to an automatic system with telephone exchanges years ago, because we wanted to keep our local operators in the telephone exchange, but then they often listened into conversations. We did not know about data protection, and now we have a much better awareness of it.

This could be a case for introducing a national identity card, because it should not stop with medical records. I can understand why medical records are separate from this, but I do not think a national identity card is an intrusion on rights or a form of Big Brother, but rather a welcome requirement. We should have nothing to fear from identity cards. They are not an infringement on our rights. They ensure the process of administration is simplified. Deputy Mitchell pointed out that 30% of the health budget is spent on administration and I think this is a great case. Health care reform has faced many obstacles but what has gone on has been very good for the country. The health identifier system will improve access and quality of health care, and that must be welcomed.

When people make statements about hospitals and health care, they should be conscious that when they undermine a hospital or health service, they drive the fear of God into people. For two years, signs were erected in County Roscommon with slogans such as "People will die" and "Nearest A&E - 150 km". Roscommon County Council applied the law in two different ways. It allowed these signs to remain in place for two years without imposing one fine on the sponsors who were local businesses. I did not press for fines to be imposed. However, when Fine Gael Party signs supporting Gay Mitchell were not removed within one week of the presidential election, the council issued the party with two fines of €150. What was the public servant in the relevant office doing? Was this a fair approach? While I did not do anything about it, some public servants need to remember that they must be impartial and must not take action on the basis of a dislike of a political party.

I accept that the Fine Gael Party should have been fined but in the past we would have received a telephone call about election posters. How can one prevent someone from taking down a sign, putting it up one week later and calling the county council to ask that the relevant party, whether Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party or Sinn Féin, be fined for not removing election material? The law was not applied fairly in this case because people in positions of authority decided not to take action in a case where the issue was emotive and related to health. While I accept that fines can be imposed for not removing election posters, there is nothing to prevent someone from removing a poster for a Fine Gael local election candidate and subsequently erecting it again a week later before mischievously telephoning the council to express outrage and ask that the party be fined. There were more than 900 signs in place for at least four months before the two fines were imposed on my party. The decisions taken by the council on this matter do not reflect well on its fairness or otherwise. I have not raised this issue previously but do so now because it needs to be noted.

Figures were published several weeks ago on the safety of cardiac patients in hospitals. The figures were not used as a reason for closing the accident and emergency unit in Roscommon hospital. They served as a signpost and I invite people to read the relevant report and make up their own minds on them. The figures were twisted to suggest the Minister had used incorrect information in the Dáil and resulted in calls for him to resign. I pointed out in a radio interview that certain Deputies had cited the most outlandish figures in the House, twisted stories and made erroneous statements in newspapers and on radio without being once asked whether they had been wrong. Two years ago, the Deputies in question stated this or that facility would close. Perhaps it is time to ask them whether they were wrong.

When I was in opposition, I used to compliment and support the Government when it had good ideas. If we are honourable, we should put up our hands and admit when we are wrong. I do not want to tell people they were wrong but they were. If they have any backbone, they should admit that Roscommon hospital is safer than it was two years ago and will be twice as big and five times busier when the current plans have been implemented. Most important, people in County Roscommon, especially Roscommon town, are safer than they were as a result of the action taken by the Government.

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, on introducing this Bill, which enjoys cross-party support.

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