Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In 2015, the number of public patients waiting nine months or more for surgery increased by 5,600 following the cancellation of thousands of operations due to overcrowding in emergency departments. As overstretched units teemed with people on trolleys, hospitals had to free up beds, which left a growing number of people waiting in the queue who had otherwise planned for admission. Patients from emergency departments who were already enduring long hours on trolleys had to fill many of the beds instead. Overall, 60,000 people are currently on the surgery waiting lists. These include people who have been referred as well as those who have been waiting for longer periods. We are seeing the cumulative impact of increasing workloads and reducing resources on the quality of care and support individual patients receive. This has been taking place over the past decade and is clearly having a detrimental effect on services. Other less profiled but perhaps even more important areas include the lack of community services for people with disabilities and those enduring mental health conditions and chronic conditions. Often, these are among the youngest, oldest and most at risk in society.

The home help service for vulnerable and elderly people is probably the best and most effective means of delivery of care to ensure people can remain living in their communities at a very low cost. This is the environment in which people are happiest. There is a policy of upgrading and developing the delivery of community care in general, but what is happening on the ground is contrary to it. There is certainly a deficiency and we need to rectify it as a matter of urgency. The regressive measures and cutting of home help hours are compounding the problems in an already diminishing service. The service for many elderly and infirm people is cut down to the minimum. The cost of home care provision is significantly lower than the cost of nursing home provision, but there is a current emphasis on forcing those in receipt of the former into private nursing homes as an alternative means of care. I ask that this be addressed immediately and provision made in the current budget for 2016.

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