Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the motion tabled last night by my party colleague, Deputy Billy Kelleher. My experience is probably not unlike that of other Deputies in respect of the number of constituents presenting at my clinic desperately seeking help to access the treatments for which they have been waiting for an ever lengthening period of time. Unfortunately, the hallmark of the Government since it first promised to introduce universal health insurance has been to pretend that everything is fine when the opposite is the case.

Government policy has been to continue to deny the blindingly obvious. During its first three years in office, the former Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, repeatedly pressed home the message that he had the health service under control and was making progress. Repeated assurances were given in the House and elsewhere that discretionary medical cards were not being withdrawn, despite it being blindingly obvious to everyone that they were being removed from people left, right and centre. The Government was forced into a climbdown when it finally admitted these medical cards were being withdrawn.

Shortly after his appointment, at a time of backlogs and large numbers of patients waiting on trolleys, the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, gave an assurance that there were no issues with approval for the fair deal scheme. After a short period, the Government admitted there was an issue and measures were taken to try to address it. Similar issues have arisen across the health system. To give one example, in Letterkenny General Hospital alone, two years ago 3,000 patients were outsourced for private health appointments to have their treatment completed in the private hospitals to which they were referred. After an initial private visit to a consultant, approximately half of the patients were discharged, while the remainder was transferred to the Letterkenny General Hospital for public treatment. Before this group of patients could be treated, they had to be seen again by a consultant in the hospital for an assessment. Just a few months ago, a number of these patients were again outsourced to the private system for treatment. This unfortunate example of the way in which the health service operates demonstrates the lack of co-ordination at the centre and the absence of any form of management to anticipate developments.

When it became clear that the position of the former Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, was no longer tenable, the Government replaced him with the current Minister. One of his first acts was to inform people that the health service could not be fixed in a hurry, change would take time and the previous Minister's policy of introducing universal health insurance might not be realistic. In many ways, members of the public heaved a sigh of relief in the belief that a Minister calling things as they were might be an indication that things could get better. They thought this was a sign of competence where none had been shown in the health service previously.

Unfortunately, waiting lists have worsened in the past year to 18 months. The Minister extended the maximum waiting time for seeing a consultant for an outpatient appointment from 12 months to 18 months and the eight-month target time for inpatient treatments to one year. The new targets have not been met. For example, in Letterkenny General Hospital the number of patients waiting to see a consultant for an outpatient appointment for more than 12 months has increased by 70% and currently stands at more than 4,000. The current position is not sustainable. As a first step, the Minister must admit that is the case. Realistic budgets and an honest appraisal of the current position are required. We need a Government that will finally take some control and start to deliver the health services members of the public are desperately seeking.

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