Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, is not here but I accept the Minister of State. I contend the service is not safe and it is not a quality service; this has been stated by consultants and not by me. The Minister of State said front-line staff endeavour to provide a safe and quality service, which they do, but they cannot do so without the tools or the means. If there is a fire we call the fire brigade, which is why I stated the task force is not fit for purpose and should be disbanded and the job given to people who know how to sort out the problem and who deal with it on a daily basis, not senior HSE officials who were all missing at Christmas when HSE officialdom was closed for almost 11 days. The trolleys backed up again because nobody received a letter.

What about the patients who are waiting in ambulances who cannot be taken from the ambulances and put onto trolleys because the hospital in Clonmel and other hospitals do not have a physical trolley in the building? The Government is looking in the wrong places. St. Michael's unit in South Tipperary General Hospital was forced to close and money was thrown at other services to pick up the slack for a while. It was the case that people who presented voluntarily for psychiatric care at South Tipperary General Hospital were taken by a private company to Kilkenny, but this service was withdrawn by e-mail last Friday week. It is a scandal. Now these patients must sit or stand and wait until 9 o'clock the following morning, on a chair if they can get one. This is exacerbating the situation in the accident and emergency department at the hospital. This is the result of a direct action by the Department, which gave us a service for a year and then took it away. When St. Michael's unit closed a service was provided for patients who present voluntarily, who do not feel well and know they do not feel well and need treatment, but it was taken away by an e-mail to the hospital manager last Friday week. It is scandalous and disgraceful. The actions being taken by one office is damaging and putting more pressure on accident and emergency departments.

The Minister of State does not know what is going on in the HSE and the sooner it is disbanded, as was promised by the previous Government and this Government, the better. Let the people who want to, and who are doing their best to do so, care for sick people, and let us not have officialdom choking everything, and the nonsensical situation of €4 million a week being spent on the fair deal scheme when people should be in nursing homes. The nursing homes sector should be involved. There is capacity in Tipperary and nursing homes will take patients, but official HSE is bonkers and cannot understand what is going on.

See this speech in context