Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mairéad, David and Deputy Harty for preparing this Private Members' motion, which is both important and timely. I wish to discuss a number of the problems but I also wish to discuss solutions. First, I will concentrate on County Kerry. I have had meetings with the Minister in the past regarding Kerry University Hospital working in conjunction with the Bon Secours Hospital in Tralee. It is a unique situation where two hospitals are located within a stone's throw of each other. I compliment the management and staff in both hospitals because there have been improvements and there is more working together. However, we must enhance and grow that.

We must change the way people are admitted to our hospitals. It is absolutely insane that the emergency department is the only way a person can be admitted today to Kerry University Hospital. Take the example of a doctor attending a person and telling that person he or she must go to the hospital because it is a hospital case. That person has been assessed by the GP and the GP, in his or her expertise, has diagnosed what is wrong and what care is required. However, the person must then go and queue in the accident and emergency department.

The Minister knows as well as I do that it is not unknown to have to wait for 70 hours in an emergency department. That is in no way the responsibility of the people working in the hospital. I have visited emergency departments at odd times during the night and I have been told by the people working there that they are under unreal pressure. They are working flat out. They continually say, "For God's sake, talk to the Minister and use influence with the HSE to try to get them to see common sense".

An admissions department is where many people should be admitted. That is why it says "Admissions" over the door. Emergency departments are for accidents and emergencies, people who arrive in a bad way or are brought by ambulance and need urgent assessment, triage, X-rays and other procedures. This has been pointed out to the Minister previously. What has he asked the HSE to do about it or what has been done? Nothing has been done. A great deal was promised in the programme for Government. The Minister was a diligent participant in that negotiation. He genuinely put his shoulder to the wheel for 70 days and I have no problem complimenting him for that. However, what has happened since? Our health service and the delivery of that service have worsened and become a shambles.

I wish to speak about our community hospitals in County Kerry. We have community hospitals in Kenmare, Dingle and Cahersiveen. We definitely need a new community hospital in the great town of Killarney. I want to see this progressed. I want to see a shovel put into the ground. Killarney is a growing town in that the population doubles or trebles in the summertime. It is definitely deserving of a new community hospital. The existing hospital is great in that the staff and management are doing their very best, but they need a modern hospital and extra beds, just as we need extra beds opened in Kenmare and Dingle. There is a strong case to be made for Kenmare and Dingle because of our ageing population. If the HSE is to be serious, proactive and forward-thinking, it should consider extensions to those hospitals, even though they are new hospitals, to allow for future growth of the ageing population.

HIQA has an awful lot to answer for. The Minister was not the creator of HIQA; others were. At this stage HIQA is definitely an out-of-control monster. We must have regulations and standards, but there is such a thing as standards gone crazy and people running away with themselves. People involved in the management of hospitals have highlighted to me that what HIQA is engaged in at present is neither right nor proper.

Regarding the management of the HSE, we have layer upon layer of bureaucracy and it is failing us. We see psychiatric nurses who are fully qualified and who want to work in County Kerry. I highlighted this to the Minister today and he said he was delighted to be in a position to offer full-time employment to nurses. We have qualified psychiatric nurses who want to come-----

See this speech in context