Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is an effort by the Government to pretend that the appointment of Deputy Leo Varadkar as Minister for Health will somehow wipe the slate clean of the damage already done by it to the health service. This plan is part of that spin, but, in fact, we can see that some of the measures announced as part of the new national service plan were already announced and that the plan for 2015 is not enough to deal with increasing demands and a growing population who depend on hospitals. My constituency is a prime example of how the service has been run down in some cases and directly and savagely damaged in others. It is hard to even call it a health service when the HSE's own management data service report for September shows that there were 7,800 on Kerry County Hospital's waiting list, of whom an incredible 2,216 had been waiting for over six months, a further 654 had been waiting between one and two years and a further six had been waiting for longer than two years. When it gets to the stage where nearly 8,000 people are waiting to see a consultant, it shows that the system is dysfunctional.

There is nothing in the plan will reduce numbers significantly in the short term. Of course, I welcome the small increases in the numbers of doctors and nurses, but what has been announced will go only a very small way towards reversing some of the serious cuts in staff numbers in the past few years. The underfunding of Dingle and Kenmare community hospitals is an issue which is having a serious effect on the communities which depend on them. There are six hospital beds with no funding available to use them. Six beds are lying idle. That equates to six people who need a hospital bed, but who cannot get one because there is no funding available to service them.

Lip service is being paid to the need for early intervention for children with special needs. Everyone involved in the care of these children will testify to this, especially the parents. Children with special needs are being allocated SNAs for only half of their preschool hours, which means that parents have to take them out of school for the remaining period. An additional €20 million in funding for disability services has been announced, but this is very inadequate and will not fix the problems caused by successive cuts since 2008. Meanwhile, the Kerry Parents and Friends Association has had its funding cut by €44,000.

There has been a lot of publicity given to the new system for the issuing of medical cards, but meanwhile I have a constituent with terminal cancer who has to make do without one. I see this man every week walking the road and my daughter and I have contacted the Minister's office. The man had a discretionary medical card, but it was taken from him. He is terminally ill, but he is still denied a medical card. It is an absolute disgrace when somebody coming towards the end of their days has to do without a medical card because of the attitude taken by the Government. What is absolutely disgusting is that no reply has been received from the Minister's office. I have another constituent who has visited the accident and emergency department with severe headaches but who has been told they must wait 18 months to be seen by a consultant. These are real people who are being denied a basic right to a proper health service.

It does not matter how much the Government spins the figures. It is particularly misleading to suggest the so-called "extra" spend of €625 million is happening when €510 million of it will be used to cover the overspend this year. It is hard to watch while money is being spent on agency workers and basic services are suffering. Again, I go back to the practical experiences other Deputies and I have had with people who deserve a service. Will the Minister of State explain to me why somebody who is terminally ill and had a discretionary medical card until a number of months ago had it withdrawn? There is no explanation for it. The Minister's office did not even have the decency to issue a reply to explain why that was the case. I will send the facts to the Minister of State to see whether she will do something about it as the Minister has done absolutely nothing about it. I am looking at the man in question walking the road every week, knowing that his time is short and that he needs a medical card.

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