John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the motion introduced by Deputy Billy Kelleher.

Many Ministers for Health have come and gone in my time in the House and responsibility for health now rests with the current Minister, Deputy Varadkar. I believed this Minister would take an enlightened approach and solve the problems in the health system with a stroke of the pen. That is clearly not the case.

The main problem I have identified in the health service is the lack of capacity. Those who are able to access services are well looked after, are treated properly and usually have follow-up treatment when they are discharged. The lack of capacity seems to be the major problem. The Minister recently announced that a further 300 beds will come on stream in the health service. Will this be sufficient to address the number of patients who need help? These beds must be a permanent addition to current hospital capacity. We also need to find out where they will be located. Will they be confined to Dublin or spread across the country? Will Wexford General Hospital, for example, be allocated additional beds?

More than 11,000 people have been waiting for 18 months or more for an outpatient appointment and approximately 5,000 children have been waiting for an appointment for more than 12 months. These figures are outrageous and the position is not helped by the fact that the Minister appears to perceive his role as being a lead commentator as opposed to a Cabinet Minister with direct responsibility for the health service.

Despite all the promises made by the Minister, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation recorded a staggering 40% increase in the number of patients waiting on trolleys in emergency departments in August. Since 2006, the number of people aged 65 years and over increased by approximately 118,000 or 25%.

The problem is obviously going to get worse. There will be significant number of older people who will require hospital services but the capacity is not there to deal with them.

Returning to the issue of my constituency, I listened to Deputy Twomey earlier. The situation regarding knee and hip operations is a total disaster. We depend on Kilcreene, Cappagh and Waterford hospitals but people are waiting years to be admitted to have operations they require. Many of them are in severe pain and unable to walk, yet the services are not there to meet their needs. The other area of major concern in respect of Waterford hospital relates to prostate services. Recently, I made representations on behalf of two people who had GP recommendations for prostate services at Waterford hospital. I received a reply which said that due to significant demand for urology services and patients waiting much longer than the HSE would like for a first review and for urology operations, the two recently appointed consultant urologists are currently only able to see urgent, critical cancerous patients in a timely fashion. If one is not diagnosed with cancer, one will not get any treatment. That is a matter of concern. Many people are expressing such concern. They would like to go to hospital when they are referred by GPs such as Deputy Twomey and they would like to do so in Waterford. They would like to be assessed and they would like to have their minds put at ease. This is a matter of serious concern in the south east.

I could go on. The ambulance any many other services in Wexford are not up to the standard required. As I said at the outset, the responsibility rests with the Minister. It is important that he stops being a commentator and starts being Minister for Health in order to deal with the issues that exist.

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