Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. In particular, I commend Deputy Billy Kelleher on tabling the motion. He made a very important point yesterday when he spoke about the need for health professionals to highlight conditions which could jeopardise patient care. He referred to the fact that last month was the worst October on record, with 7,971 admitted patients cared for on trolleys. In the first ten months of this year almost 80,000 admitted patients were on trolleys. The fact we learned of a couple aged 90 who had to endure a very long time on trolleys has been well highlighted.

Having listened to very good discussions on radio on this matter, the overall feeling is that the fact we have lost so many beds is a serious issue. Recently, I listened to a discussion in which health professionals gave an overview of the health service. They spoke, in particular, about the fact such a low percentage of the health budget is invested in primary care, which is leading to overcrowding in hospitals and many cutbacks in various programmes. I will mention one briefly - I referred to it yesterday during a Topical Issue debate - namely, the school dental service. This service lacks staffing and funding and yesterday the Minister assured me he would try to address it and that we should see improvements next year. It is quite instructive that it was highlighted in the media that 334 children in Galway were hospitalised for dental treatment last year. There is no doubt the lack of school dental checkups has led to these hospitalisations. Dental issues are not being identified because routine examinations are not being carried out. I hope the position is beginning to improve. There are also cutbacks in staffing. We must ensure that specific consideration is given to this matter. I refer to south Galway as a case in point in this regard.

The health professionals in the discussion to which I refer also spoke about other issues, such as the fact that they feel there is not enough support available in the area of mental health. I have seen evidence of this in east Galway, where 22 acute beds were lost in Ballinasloe. The professionals in question are of the view that there should be more support for public and private nursing homes. They also feel that if there is no investment in these areas, the result will be even more overcrowding in hospitals.

There has been a reduction in waiting times for fair deal applications. I welcome this development but these applications must be dealt with because if they are not, more people will end up in hospital. One commentator referred to about Dr. Jimmy Sheehan's call for more use of scanning equipment and the need for more staff working at weekends. This is an issue which, I am sure, could be investigated. We also need to have people working midweek. There are these pressures on primary carers. We have some very good home care and home help packages. One gentleman informed me he has home help three times a day, which is very good. On the other hand, people have told me they only receive a half an hour at lunchtime, which is a very busy time of the day in terms of home help. This all leads to many people ending up in hospital.

It is not an either-or situation when it comes to tackling the health budget because money must be spent. I refer, in particular, to the rheumatology situation, which was highlighted on "Morning Ireland" this morning. We do not have rheumatologists in the west of Ireland, and traditionally we have had waiting lists there. What was highlighted this morning was the fact people must travel long distances to University Hospital Galway for treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. There is also a shortage of staff in Limerick, which was very much highlighted. The information we have received from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation is something about which we should be very concerned. It has highlighted not only trolley watch but also the need for recruitment. It made a very strong point that unless resources are provided there will be ongoing issues about staffing and safe working environments. In addition, it is concerned about the people for whom it cares.

With regard to hospital beds, I refer to Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe. This is a level 3 facility of significant size. There is a need for single en suite rooms and isolation areas. I hope planning permission will be obtained for the proposed new 50-bed unit - I look forward to it having 100 beds in years to come - there and that this will be built as soon as possible. The hospital's catchment area is large and there are many elderly patients living within it who require care. There are also staffing issues at the hospital. I hope we can make some progress to put in place more beds in the region for the people who badly need them.

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