Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed that the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, is not in the Chamber to be accountable in respect of the serious issue I wish to raise. Is the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, aware of plans by the Health Service Executive to cut primary care services in the Louth-Meath area? The HSE has instructed management in the health service to save €1.5 million by way of staffing cuts between now and the end of the year. These measures will lead to serious cutbacks in services provided by occupational therapists, physiotherapists, public health nurses and, in particular, home help support staff. Is the Minister of State aware that last Friday week, the HSE called a meeting at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Louth at which it informed management there that the contracts of nine full-time clerical and administrative staff and one part-time clerical worker were to be terminated with immediate effect?

It beggars belief that at a time when we are seeing services, especially primary care services, cut to the bone, further cuts are being made just as we come into the winter months. I know of many elderly people throughout Louth and east Meath, people who are sick and frail and have serious mobility issues, who are currently receiving only 15 minutes of home help twice a week, if they are lucky. These are people who need help to get out of bed and get washed and dressed every morning. Now the service will be further cut. That is totally unacceptable and amounts to neglect of patient care.

The sacking of nine full-time clerical and administrative staff and one part-time worker at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda will have an adverse effect on patients. If there are insufficient numbers of clerical and administrative staff, there will be delays in patients getting notice of appointments, receiving referrals and obtaining doctors' and consultants' letters. It beggars belief that this is being done. Moreover, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is one of the worst in the country for overcrowding, being often top of the list in this regard. Yesterday, for instance, 29 patients were on trolleys there. I am calling on the Minister to reverse those cuts as we approach the winter.

The situation is compounded by the fact that 18 beds assigned to services for the elderly in Louth have been closed and lie empty because of nursing staff shortages. I realise there is an overall nursing recruitment plan in place but a significant part of the problem in my constituency is the serious delays by the HSE management nationally, not locally, in approving the filling of staff vacancies. It was known for months before the 18 beds were closed that there was a need to recruit staff. Those approvals were left on a desk or shelf gathering dust in the full knowledge of the crisis we were facing. It was only when it was brought into the public domain several weeks ago that the beds were closed that there was an undertaking to fill the roles. Will the Minister implement a fast-tracking process to fill these vacancies? The delay in so doing is compounding the problems in the Louth-Meath area.

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