Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I know it is not the Minister of State's brief which is why I would love to be getting stuck in to the Minister of State who is responsible. These pre-prepared responses from the Department are always a celebration of all that is great and all the money that is being spent. I can tell the Minister of State one thing for certain. The money being spent is not being spent on the care of Louise Haughney, 10 McNeill Drive, Sligo town and that is a problem. Is it being spent on extra managers? We hired three new managers a week in 2017. There has been an 11% increase in senior managers since 2011 and a 50% increase in middle managers since 2013. We are over-complicating something that is very simple. Louise Haughney needs 45 hours per week personal assistance, physiotherapy as is required for her condition, occupational therapy, a social worker, a case co-ordinator, a back-up wheelchair and a mould for the seat of the wheelchair she is currently in. During Storm Ophelia, because somebody did not call to her house, she was confined to her bed for 19 hours, unable to avail of toilet facilities. We cannot stand over this. There is no announcement of resources, models or processes. Let us simplify what is simple. It is about having front-line staff in place and having them provide the care.

I will not walk out of here thinking it is dealt with. I expect the Minister of State to lift the phone to the Department and tell it to get someone on the case today. Louise Haughney needs progress. She has been abandoned by the system. The GP, in his own words, is now the only person left on her primary care team. He described it as a joke. The occupational therapy manager down there has been an acting primary care occupational therapy manager, through no fault of her own, for over a year because we are not filling these positions. Why are we not filling these positions? If we cannot find people, why are we not using the National Treatment Purchase Fund to procure people from the private sector to look after critically urgent cases such as this one?

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