Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As Gandhi said, "It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver." It has also been said that without health, life is not life, that it is only a state of languor and suffering. In this motion we are dealing with patients who are trying to maintain good health or eradicate bad health, both physical and mental. In many ways we are dealing with very vulnerable people at every age on the spectrum. Two years into this Government we are still seeing inadequate delivery of services and, I have to say, a lack of urgency on the part of those in charge. Outpatient waiting lists have hit record highs. More than 10% of our population are waiting, many for more than a year. Emergency department overcrowding reached its highest level on record, which is 30% higher than last year. There are major delays in accessing community health services, especially services for children. Some 6,181 children are waiting for a primary care psychology appointment and, of these, 25% have been waiting for more than a year. This is happening at a time when we are saying that we care more about mental health than we ever have before. There has been a 10% increase in the number of children waiting for a child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, appointment. There is a GP crisis. There are 4,312 children with disabilities awaiting the assessments which are their right under the Disability Act 2005. Almost 10,000 children are waiting for an appointment in our children's hospitals. Many of these have been waiting for more than 18 months.

That is before I even touch on or get into the cervical screening scandal. It is a scandal but, apart from that, the management of the issue since it was uncovered has been shambolic. The women of Ireland are enraged. Their families are disappointed, frustrated and angry. Every day questions remain unanswered and more questions arise. The call centre system put in place has been disgraceful. A friend of mine who had had an abnormal showing rang the first day, the fourth day and the fifth day. She was told twice that somebody was looking at her case and that somebody would get back to her. To this day, no one has. Women are very worried and cannot sleep at night. We have to do better, make no mistake about that. We need reform and we need it straight away. We need it for patients and for the wonderful people at the coalface of our medical and health system.

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