Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I reassure the Deputy that I was not waiting for a news flash; I have already started dealing with the issue. It is not a failure; it is simply an inability to find a suitable person. CAMHS consultants are quite rare, as Deputy Kelleher and I know from the Cork situation. However, we have already started on that. I always try to be ahead of the posse.

I am deeply saddened that our health service failed so many families in Portlaoise. As Minister of State, I stand with the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, in insisting that our services be improved. Along with many of the speakers yesterday evening and tonight, I recognise the courage and tenacity of the families who came forward to share their stories. They must have been very difficult stories to tell. I do not believe there is anybody here who is a parent who does not recognise the hurt of losing a long awaited and wanted baby.

This time, the opportunity will not be missed. Last night, the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, outlined the measures we are taking on the HIQA Portlaoise report. I do not propose to repeat all of those tonight. However, I applaud the Minister for his swift action to ensure that the families get the services they need on the ground. We need to minimise, in so far as we can, the difficulties that some of the families continue to endure.

At a national level, our priority must be excellent, safe care with a view to achieving the best possible outcomes. Patient safety must be at the core of everything we do and we must work tirelessly to embed a patient safety culture throughout our health service. The lack of compassion in care in the hospital was a clear and disturbing feature of the report. This must, and will be, addressed without delay. Just as patients need medical and nursing staff for their clinical abilities they need them to show that they care and support them. I find it difficult to understand how we got to where we are. How did the health service lose its capacity to care? I do not subscribe to the view that a lack of resources was the issue.

Last night, it was claimed that alarm bells sounded about Portlaoise in 2006 and 2011. I am not in a position to comment on the action or inaction of the previous Government but I can contextualise funding requests in 2011. At that time the country was in the middle of a financial crisis and funding shortfalls were identified across the board. Many clinicians came looking to the Minister and the Department for funding, claiming their specialty had the greatest need. The reality is that real clinical leadership is demonstrated by working to mitigate any risk within available resources and using the mechanisms within the HSE to seek the additional funding required. The HSE then has the responsibility to consider competing demands and to prioritise funding requests accordingly.

Whether Portlaoise hospital was a model 2 or 3 hospital is a smokescreen. The categorisation of hospitals was, if anything, a bit simplistic. In any event, with the move to hospital groups, hospital models are now obsolete. Within the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, there is a very bright future for Portlaoise hospital. There are bound to be service changes as we move to provide services across the Dublin midlands group. What people need are safe services, and thus they will travel to the hospital where that service is best provided. It is clear that we need to ensure that services in Portlaoise that are not viable are discontinued, and that viable and safe services are resourced, but we must do this in a planned and ordered way. We must also listen better to the voice of the patient.

The Ombudsman today published, Learning to Get Better,which investigated how public hospitals handle patient complaints. This report and the HIQA Portlaoise report show that the health service has not been responsive enough to patients who have had bad experiences. The HSE's complaints management and resolution processes need improvement, in particular about learning from complaints.

I wish to reassure the House that we will do everything in our power to ensure that the recommendations of the HIQA report are implemented without delay. We owe that to all the families who bravely came forward in an effort to ensure that no more families would endure the pain that they experienced. Several speakers tonight asked what has been done in the interim. While I do not propose to list all that has been done it is important to mention that 16 additional midwives have been recruited, including shift leaders in delivery. A director of midwifery, which I believe is essential in any maternity service, has been seconded to Portlaoise from the Coombe. A training needs analysis was also undertaken and a training plan has been developed with Athlone Institute of Technology. Some 100% of midwifery staff have attended CGT training. Guidelines are in place and the type of governance that is necessary to ensure a safe delivery of care is also being put in place.

Having just read again Deputy Kelleher's motion and the Government's counter-motion, I see very little between us.

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