Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé buíoch gur roghnaíodh an t-ábhar seo, a bhaineann le seirbhísí máithreachais in Ospidéal na hOllscoile, Leitir Ceanainn. I am appalled to say that this is not the first time I have raised this issue in this House. I refer to the fact that we have a maternity theatre suite in Letterkenny University Hospital that has never been commissioned. Indeed, there was widespread public anger when Senator Pádraig MacLochlainn and I revealed to the people of Donegal that the bespoke facility constructed in 2000 as part of the redevelopment of the hospital's renal dialysis block has never been used. Incredibly, when we pressed the management of Letterkenny University Hospital to explain the rationale behind this at a meeting, we were told that it was a resource issue. The necessary staffing was never put in place, and other resources were never provided, so therefore the theatre was never commissioned.

It is almost two decades since this facility was built. Before I spoke, I thought about the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, who has to make a decision on this matter. He was 14 years of age when former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced the new theatre in Letterkenny University Hospital. He was probably entering secondary school. Today, he is the Minister for Health, and over that whole period not one mother has had the benefit of the use of that theatre, on which the taxpayers of Donegal and elsewhere spent a large amount of money to create. Why is this happening and when will it be put right? It is my view that the problem is down to sheer incompetence on the part of successive governments. At worst, it amounts to neglect of a part of the country which has been neglected time and time again by successive governments. That is shameful, and a dereliction of the duties of those governments towards the people of Donegal. In this instance, it is particularly a dereliction of their duties towards the women of Donegal.

It is a deplorable situation, but to make matters worse it comes at a time when the hospital continues to experience record-breaking levels of overcrowding. Letterkenny University Hospital has been in emergency status since before the start of this year. It has lengthening patient waiting lists. The hospital has four operational inpatient operating theatres at the moment, yet only three of them can be used all the time. The reason is that the fourth theatre is now used as the maternity theatre because the other maternity theatre, built 18 years ago, was never commissioned. This means the hospital is down to three full-time operating theatres. As a result of this, consultants tell us that they cannot get operating theatre time because one of the theatres is now used for emergency caesarean sections and so on. That means that of the five theatres we have in Donegal, only three are used on a full-time basis. That is not an effective use of resources, and it has been the case for the past 18 years.

Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur ar an Rialtas inniu. Cad é atá ag dul a tharlú i dtaobh an ospidéal seo? An bhfeicfimid an seomra seo ar feadh 18 bliain eile, nó an bhfuil Feidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte agus an Rialtas chun pacáiste airgid a chur ar fáil sa dóigh is go dtig linn é seo a chur i gceart? It is unbelievable to think that, while lists grow in Donegal and demand for operations and procedures are at an all time high, the hospital has a purpose-built maternity theatre on site that has been lying idle since 2000. It takes up half of the entire floor it is situated on. To make things worse, a mother who is giving birth and who develops complications in the maternity suite, who should go next door to theatre for an emergency caesarean section, now has to be wheeled out of the maternity unit, through the halls, into a lift and taken to a different floor where the theatre she can be operated on is located.

This ensures that reimbursement decisions are made on objective scientific and economic grounds. The HSE has advised the Department that, following an intensive process, it has decided not to reimburse Vimizim, which is for the treatment of Morquio A syndrome. I appreciate that this condition is a serious one and that the families of children diagnosed with this illness are extremely anxious to obtain any treatment which they believe will alleviate its symptoms. The HSE drugs group, which reviewed the effectiveness of the drug, did not consider the evidence for its clinical benefit to be sufficiently strong in the context of the proposed cost and budget impact.

The applicant company was notified on 7 November 2017 of the HSE’s decision not to add Vimizim to its reimbursement list. The HSE advised the company that it would be open to reviewing any additional clinical evidence if this becomes available. The company submitted a new application for reimbursement in December 2017. This was discussed at the January 2018 drugs group meeting and will be considered further by the HSE leadership in the coming weeks.

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