Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yes, we are sharing four and six minutes. I thank all the parties that pledged their support to this motion - Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour, Independents 4 Change and Solidarity - People before Profit. I welcome that. The fundamental issue is loss of trust. There has been loss of trust in our health service not only by patients who are seeking care but also loss of trust in those who supply the care, our doctors, our nurses, our home help providers and our care assistants. They have all lost trust in the capacity of this health service to supply efficient and effective care to our patients. That is a deplorable state of affairs. Looking across at the UK, the National Health Service, NHS, even having many problems as it has, is still held up as an icon of social and professional care in the UK.

Here, however, the HSE is viewed with derision unfortunately. Many people in the health service are trying to do their best. I know that myself. However, the system is letting them down. The lack of health reform is underpinning this lack of trust. The Minister, Deputy Harris, spoke of personal care. Who delivers personal care? Doctors and nurses deliver personal care. However, they have lost trust in the service. The Minister talked about working together. We worked together on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health on the Sláintecare report. I believe it is a blueprint for reforming our health service.

There is no resistance to health reform on this side of the House. The resistance to health reform is coming from the Government. The slowness in responding to Sláintecare underpins that. The Minister of State said that he could not engage in health reform until Sláintecare reported, and yet one year after it reported nothing has happened. There are prolonged appointment systems. There are prolonged review groups. This is a ten-year vision for our health service, and if we continue at the rate we are going it will be ten years before we start reforming the health service. There is no resistance to health reform from this side of the House. We have lost trust in the Minister because of his tardiness in delivering health reform.

Demographic changes are going to overwhelm our health service. We are facing huge difficulties down the line due to our ageing population. If we do not reform the health service and expand capacity, we are going to be in very serious trouble. We are in very serious trouble as it is, but it will get worse as years go on.

I was taken by Deputy Donnelly's reference to the fact that not only are we the biggest exporter of doctors and nurses but also the biggest importer. That is an extraordinary situation to be in. I fail to understand the Government's lack of curiosity about that position. How can we educate our brightest and best and allow them to go abroad only to trawl the world trying to replace them? It is ludicrous. We have to set timelines on how we address the recruitment and retention issue. We must have timelines for expanding our hospital bed capacity. Intensive care unit, ICU, beds are at a premium now, which is preventing people from having very urgent surgery. We need transitional funding to get over the hump and to meet the unmet need in our service.

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