Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman, Deputy Durkan, for the opportunity to participate in this urgent debate on the health service and the lack of supports in accident and emergency departments. It is a national scandal that the Government still has not fixed the health service and provided safe and quality service for all of the people. Elderly patients and persons with disabilities are being left lying around and, in some cases, with no services.

Today, in my constituency office in Donnycarney, a mother of a 28 year old severely disabled young man told me of her recent experience in Beaumont Hospital. Her son, who has severe cerebral palsy, is peg fed, non-verbal and five stone in weight. His mother made the following points. His feeding system has a balloon attached to bring the food, fluid and medication to his colon and when this bursts, which can happen at any time, it cannot be replaced in the accident and emergency department but must be done through the radiology department in Beaumont that he has attended for the past ten years.

On Saturday, 31 October at 6 p.m., his mother took him to Beaumont as the peg had burst. There was nobody in radiology to deal with this, as it was only open for stroke victims but if it had been an emergency, the team would be called in and they would see him. His mother was very concerned that her son would receive no food, fluid or medication if this was not rectified, but the doctor in accident and emergency told her to take him home and just feed him as normal, which is what his mother and her husband did after receiving this advice from a trained doctor. On Sunday, 1 November, they returned to Beaumont to the same experience, with nobody in radiology to see their son. They went back on Monday, and when they got to see the doctor in radiology, he said it was not okay to feed their son through the broken tube as their son cannot vomit if there is something wrong so they queried the authority of the doctor on the previous visit.

Normally, the procedure takes ten to 15 minutes to perform, but this day it took over an hour. They could not get the tube in and her son was very agitated, which was upsetting for herself and her husband. The doctor took them both aside and explained how dangerous this procedure had become and that this was due to the mother feeding him through the broken tube. Their son's temperature was now reading 38.5°C and the doctor told them to take him back to accident and emergency. At this stage, the mother was quite worried about her husband, as it was taking its toll on him. Her husband is 70 and the mother is in her 60s. They took their son home, as they had had enough of Beaumont over the weekend.

The mother and her husband have never been away from their son's side since he was born and would like to know what are his rights. He is being discriminated against because he has no voice. This has to stop in Beaumont. Nobody seems to be in charge. This family is suffering. I ask the Minister what are the rights of this person with a disability? Does he and his family deserve a quality health service? The Minister needs to act, and act now.

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