Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am very pleased this subject has been selected. I doubt the Minister for Health or any other Minister can be satisfied with the situation that pertains in regard to neurological services. We have just seven rehabilitation consultants in the country and we are ranked second worst in Europe. If we increased this figure to 50, we would still be ranked second worst in Europe, and if we increased it to 150, we would still have fewer consultants per capita than Serbia, Croatia or Latvia, all of which have overcome very serious economic and governance issues in recent years.

This is having a very direct impact on people who urgently need care. It is inhibiting and making people dependent rather than independent, and that itself has costs. The Neurological Alliance of Ireland, which is an excellent organisation that works tirelessly on this issue, has produced statistics recently that show 40% of those affected could not access neuro-psychological services, 25% could not access physiotherapy or occupational therapy, 57% were badly impacted by the rising cost of medication, 25% were forced to use private physiotherapy services, which is a very big expense for them, 17% were refused a medical card, 10% had their medical card withdrawn and 84% had serious concerns into the future about the cost of health care and cutbacks.

The alliance has identified a number of areas where it believes changes need to happen urgently. The question of waiting lists and the recruitment of specialists is critical. Multidisciplinary care is hampered by an over-stretched level of staffing and the embargo. The aftercare at community level is practically non-existent in some areas. This is an area where we are not working very smartly in that it will cost us to keep people dependent. Urgent investment is required in this area.

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