Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the opportunity to speak today. To say last Monday night's programme was heartbreaking is to put it incredibly mildly. As a mother with three kids, I could not imagine what it would be like to be one of those parents having a child in a similar position. Sometimes in our consideration of the issues we must also examine where the HSE might have got things right. Professor Colette Cowan in University Hospital Limerick was one director of nursing who achieved her waiting list targets but I regret that this was not acknowledged in the programme the other night. Sometimes when we see problems we should also speak to the people who are delivering on the ground to see how they achieved it. I spoke to Professor Cowan over the past few days and asked her how she achieved the targets. She did it by in-sourcing, that is, with various surgeries done in the different hospitals within her grouping. She also outsourced to Cappagh hospital to get some orthopaedic procedures done.

Regrettably, the hospital could not deliver what she had outsourced because it did not have the equipment necessary to perform hip and knee replacements. These are the positives. She also made suggestions relating to theatre assistants. We all know there is a shortage of theatre nurses. If theatre assistants were available, it could help matters. Staff need not be theatre nurses to do the work. People can be trained up to support the surgeons.

Another suggestion related to recruitment of staff when they finish their studies and qualify. We could go to the young newly-qualified people and offer them contracts for three years and then agree to give them a break in the contract to allow them to travel, see the world and gain more experience.

These are valuable suggestions that come from simply talking and listening. It has to be a mix and match involving the NTPF. Between using the fund and in-sourcing, we could have a really good combination.

The most important thing is not to have another conversation about this. The lists have grown again during the month of January. We need to be able to say in 2018 that we have delivered and that the waiting lists have gone down due to a combination involving the NTPF. If the Government has to front-load funding to begin the work immediately, it should do so. Earlier, Deputy Kelleher said that if the Government needs to go back and seek extra funding and front-load it to get people off the lists and bring the latter down to a manageable level, then that is what the Government should do. No one should be in pain. No mother should have to see her child cry in pain. No mother should have to see her child denied the opportunity to attend education because the child is in pain. We cannot expect the teaching staff to be supporting the child in pain.

All the while, we have to look at resources. When people are going on annual leave, maternity leave, force majureleave or whatever, their positions should be covered in the HSE. Responsibility and accountability for the managing of rosters is necessary. When someone steps out, someone else should be in a position to step in to ensure a free flowing service is available at all times to the patient, who expects the service. An appointment should not be cancelled - or a place on the list lost - simply because there is no one available to deliver the service. If someone is on annual leave, she should have the leave booked and it needs to be noted. Patients' needs should be catered for at all times.

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