Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this very important issue. I feel sorry for the Opposition which raised this issue but I thank it for giving us the opportunity to assess and examine what is a very challenging situation, that of the provision and delivery of health services in this country. This has been challenging for some considerable time, no more so than during Fianna Fáil's own term of office, when all of the issues that have been raised tonight and which will be raised tomorrow evening regarding bed occupancy, waiting times, patients waiting in hospital corridors and so forth were also of concern. The difference then was that it was in the middle of an economic boom when money was falling out of the sky. The sad fact is that the incoming Government had to take up the challenge where the outgoing Government left off, having failed to deliver in a boom and having pretended that the incoming Government could expand and do the impossible.

The sad part of it, from its point of view, is that the incoming Government did just that. The progress that has been made is extraordinary given the very challenging circumstances that this country and Government have faced over the past four and half years. It is to the eternal credit of the people in the health services that they have managed to provide a service of such quality in that period. We all realise that waiting times are unacceptable, that patients waiting in corridors and waiting for elective surgery for long periods of time is unacceptable. It was always unacceptable but I remember dealing with such situations, as do all Members of this House, five, ten and 15 years ago. I refer particularly to elderly patients awaiting surgery who are in severe pain. It is all very fine for us to stand up and say we will do something about this and members of the Opposition to say they will do a great deal about it when we know they can do nothing about it because they did nothing about it in the past. The self same pain was suffered by many patients during their period in office - severe pain. We all had patients coming to our clinics asking if we could do anything about it. All that we could do was put down a parliamentary question to try to ascertain when something might happen.

I want to compliment the Minister and his predecessor for the attempts they have made, in a time when there was no money, to address the issues of increasing demand, a growing population and an increasing number of requirements in terms of surgical and medical procedures. The Minister has referred to recent initiatives which I saw in action in my own local hospital in Naas. In January the accident and emergency department was vastly overcrowded, with many patients on trolleys. There was a reason for that. Quite simply, there was a reduction in the number of beds available. Fortunately, it was possible for the hospital to set about recommissioning a number of beds that had been decommissioned some years previously. That is now achieving results. The results are visible. The Minister correctly identified the necessity of recruiting more staff which is being done at the present time. Those kinds of practical actions will have the effect of alleviating the concerns of patients and their families as well as the burden on the health service providers in trying to meet increasing demands and needs.

It is not really possible to deal with this issue in a short few minutes. I would like to see more step down beds in both the public and private sectors. We should never eliminate the possibility of having healthy competition between the public and the private sector in the context of step down beds. Indeed, we should encourage healthy competition between the public and private sectors in all areas of medicine and hospital care. If we do that, we will have achieved a great deal.

I want to compliment the Minister on the work done so far. I am quite certain that if he is allowed to continue, the achievements of the past four and a half years will be increased tenfold in the time ahead.

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