Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I regret to say that while Deputy Kelleher's motion is long on listing the shortcomings of the health service, it goes nowhere near convincing us that those in Fianna Fáil have learned anything from their years in government. During that time the stock response was to throw additional financial resources at the problem. That did not solve the problem then and it will not solve the problem now. That appears to be the stock policy response of Fianna Fáil not only in health but across a range of Departments.

I am keen to raise with the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, the matter of care of the elderly. I welcome in particular the announcement recently of funding to improve HSE-controlled community hospital beds which are currently non-HIQA compliant. I am familiar with these cases because there is one in my home town of Macroom. There is a community hospital which is held in high regard locally, along with other community hospitals in Kanturk and Millstreet. These are part and parcel of the local community. The bar has been raised by HIQA, which is only right and proper, and we need to catch up. I am pleased a deal has been brokered. We need to be careful, however, about retaining the appropriate balance between HSE-controlled bed numbers for care of the elderly and beds controlled by private nursing homes. If we put the overwhelming majority of eggs in one basket and rely on private nursing homes to provide beds for public patients, ultimately we will be hostages to fortune and we will be asked to pay increasingly high prices for those beds.

In meeting new HIQA standards we should avail of the opportunity to bring change. Officials in the hospital in Macroom have appointed a design team to examine the hospital facilities to see how it can meet HIQA compliance while retaining current bed numbers. However, we should be more ambitious. Although we may not currently have the finances available, we should examine the campuses to establish how we can double or triple the number of beds available. In the long term this would ensure we can maintain the appropriate balance. It was the case that the cost ratio between those beds under HSE control and those in the private sector were out of line in so far as the private sector was providing more cost efficiency. However, this is an opportunity to address the matter by increasing bed numbers and thereby reducing the overall cost per patient. It is right and proper that HIQA standards should be met. People are living longer and we will need more beds.

There is a problem in the old Southern Health Board area of Cork and Kerry relating to home help. Rightly, much of the effort goes into ensuring those in acute hospital beds are discharged appropriately. They are, however, commandeering home help hours at the expense of those in the community. This, in turn, is having the knock-on effect of driving people in the community into nursing homes. We need to consider that as a matter of urgency.

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