Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This issue is in respect of the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire but there is no negative connotation in terms of its staff or the work they do. The National Rehabilitation Hospital has a strategic partnership with a private company, Ability Matters, which provides prosthetic limbs. The difficulty in that regard is that many people who acquire a prosthetic limb do not do so from that company. If such a person does not acquire it from that company, he or she is denied access to services in the National Rehabilitation Hospital. However, the State provides a large amount of funding to the hospital every year and pays for its consultants, staff and the team that provides rehabilitation services to patients. The limb provided to the person, be they in Cork, Dublin, Waterford or elsewhere, is usually paid for by the HSE using State funding. Thus, the State funds the prosthetic limb and the hospital that is meant to provide rehabilitative services but if the patient does not purchase the prosthetic limb through the National Rehabilitation Hospital he or she is denied services there. The National Rehabilitation Hospital is denying services to citizens of the State and providing professional services only to people with whom it has a contract.

It is totally outrageous. We find that Government funding is working in such a way that there is a cosy little arrangement which does not work for the people.

A constituent of mine came to see me to discuss a prosthetic limb he had received from a company in County Galway. When he needed rehabilitation services, he was refused access to them in the National Rehabilitation Hospital. That is how this issue came to light. I contacted many other providers throughout the country of prosthetic limbs and they all told me the same story. There is a nod and a wink and someone needs to get to the bottom of it. The truth is that it is not about money. The service is not being provided because of a reference to some value for money statistic or the prosthetics sold by this company are cheaper; in most cases they are up to 20% to 25% more expensive than those sold by other providers. The issue needs to be dealt with quickly because people are suffering because of this cosy little arrangement.

I express my disappointment that when Topical Issues were about to be taken, the Minister of State with responsibility for people with disabilities left the Chamber. This is no reflection on the qualities of the Minister of State present, but the Minister of State with responsibility for people with disabilities should be answering the questions I have asked.

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