John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The consultants and front-line workers referred to by Deputy Keaveney wrote a letter and visited a number of public representatives in Kilkenny to outline quietly their exact fears regarding the delivery of proper health services in counties Carlow, Kilkenny and Tipperary, but they were not listened to. Their expressions of concern came as no shock to those of us who have been campaigning for service improvements at the department of psychiatry in Kilkenny for many years. People like Anne Ryan, who was a front-line campaigner in Kilkenny city, highlighted many issues relating to the health services. The campaign was based on specific information that was provided by such people, for example with regard to patients of the department of psychiatry who died by suicide or caused harm to others after being discharged, but nothing was done about it. I remind the Minister that the consultants and the front-line psychiatric service providers in Kilkenny were not the only people who raised this issue. Over a number of years, public representatives had raised it at the meetings of Members of the Oireachtas and HSE officials that take place in line with legislation. All of the issues that were raised were denied or ignored to the extent that the unchecked system simply got worse.

I believe in supporting the people in the community who require services. It is quite clear that there is no support for the families or the individuals in Kilkenny. There is no belief in those who say there is something wrong with the system. A Minister of State at the Department of Health said that the clinical director in Kilkenny has retired and has gone. We have been told locally that he is on leave. The HSE has said that somebody else has taken over the position. The fact of the matter is that the service is dysfunctional. The Minister needs to intervene in that service by asking for a clear explanation of what has happened. He should ask for a meeting with the consultants who wrote the letter and the staff who are delivering the services. If he talks to some of the families of the patients concerned, they will tell him that they see different people every time they have an appointment. No one seems to hold his or her position in Kilkenny. Everyone is being moved around. Patients and their families have no confidence in the service.

In spite of the concern expressed publicly by me and others at meetings with the Health Service Executive and through local media, nothing has happened. To this day, there is nothing only doubt and confusion. I ask Members to imagine if they were patients of that service and were seeing it crumbling in front of them, with no hope that it could deliver what is required to put them right. Nobody could have confidence in such a service. I am asking the Minister to intervene with management to request a report into what happened and an indication of what immediate solution it can offer beyond the appointment of a new clinical director.

The Minister referred to the concept of a "healthy Ireland". Is he aware of the case of a young Irish man who had an accident while on holiday in France which rendered him immobile? This man is anxious to be flown home with a nurse to his family and to be taken into care. The HSE, however, has told him that he is better off staying where he is and has instructed the French authorities accordingly. There is no evidence there of a healthy Ireland and it is not the type of response one would have expected from the HSE. I will give the Minister the details of the case and ask that he ensures something is done to address this man's plight.

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