Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is pretty well accepted that the Government's method of dealing with the banking crisis has had a significant impact on the more vulnerable in society, which includes the elderly. After suffering the devastating cut of 19% to the respite carer's grant in 2012, last year's cut of €35 million to the fair deal scheme probably was both unfair and short-sighted. The Government must take a serious look at this cut and reverse it. According to ALONE, nursing home waiting lists are spiralling out of control. At present, there are 2,100 people on the fair deal waiting lists, compared with 654 in February 2014. Waiting lists have tripled in size and the average waiting time for approval now is 15 weeks. Excessive waiting times of up to four months for fair deal approval actually can put patients' health at risk as it means vulnerable older persons often are left with no alternative but to avail of care within acute hospital settings that are not specific to their individual requirements. Other elderly people are forced to cover the full cost of their care themselves for months while they wait for approval and incur significant financial costs and pressure. Long waiting times both adversely affect applicants to the fair deal scheme and have serious implications for the wider health service, which already is under severe strain as a result of successive cuts that have left hospitals overcrowded, understaffed and overstretched. Hospitals are hindered in their efforts to free up beds because patients who are fit for discharge cannot get places in nursing homes. As I mentioned in the Chamber recently, this is directly linked to how last Sunday week, an ambulance waited for three hours outside Wexford General Hospital because there was no trolley onto which to put the patient. This was because the trolleys were being used as beds because of the number of beds that had been closed down and it is all connected. I acknowledge the Minister did not decide the budget for the health system and he has only recently come into his post. I do not know whether he will decide it the next time around either or whether he will be told how much he will get. However, six months ago, the ECB stated the biggest threat to Ireland's finances was the overspending on health. I hope the Minister will adopt a much better approach than that and that the people who are in need of most help are of greater priority than the concerns of the ECB.

See this speech in context