Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to have an opportunity to speak briefly on this motion. I commend Sinn Féin on its introduction this afternoon. More than 700,000 people are on health waiting lists for treatment and assessment. The figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund for May 2018 represent an increase of 6,200 on the figures for April 2018. There has been a jump of 4,300 to 511,904 in the number of people awaiting initial assessment by a consultant following a referral from a general practitioner. More than 147,000 people have been waiting for more than a year for an outpatient appointment. Almost 80,000 people have been waiting for more than 18 months for such an appointment. Almost 79,000 people are on inpatient waiting lists and almost 6,000 of them have been waiting for more than 18 months. These figures are appalling and shameful. It was laughable and disgusting to listen to the Taoiseach responding to Deputy Pearse Doherty this morning. Deputy Doherty rightly took the Taoiseach to task with regard to the pathetic figures in the summer economic statement, which indicates that the Government has precisely no plans whatsoever to do anything about these horrendous statistics.

The health service has been decimated over the decade of austerity. The Taoiseach played a crucial part in precipitating that austerity by voting for the blanket bank guarantee, aligning with Fianna Fáil and being prepared to allow people to suffer, particularly with regard to health and housing, over a disgraceful decade. Like other Deputies, I meet families that are desperate for early interventions and assessments for children who may be on the autistic spectrum. I meet people who are in pain, probably like the Ceann Comhairle, as they await treatments like cataract operations and knee and hip replacements. I meet people who are waiting to get home help hours and home care packages. I meet siblings and children who are desperately trying to assist elderly relatives in their 80s and early 90s who are not getting the supports they need from the Minister and the State.

I have been calling for increased resources for our health services, along with improved accountability for those in management positions, for a long time. The hard-working nurses and staff on the front line of service delivery are not sufficiently appreciated or remunerated. It is unsurprising that there is a recruitment and retention crisis in the health sector. Galway University Hospital is experiencing the longest waiting lists, with almost 40,000 people on those lists. One of my local hospitals in Dublin, the Mater Hospital, is not far behind, with almost 39,000 people on waiting lists. There are just over 36,000 people on waiting lists at Waterford University Hospital. Appallingly, from next month children in Waterford and Wexford might not be able to access consultant psychiatric services from the south-east CAMHS.

We ask the Minister for Health question after question and we keep getting distressing news about waiting lists in various areas where urgent treatment is needed. We learned yesterday that almost 10,300 children have been waiting for more than 18 months to see specialists. Almost 54,500 children are awaiting appointments with specialists, including for orthopaedic and cardiac care. In February 2017, we were all shocked and devastated to watch the RTÉ Investigates: Living on the List documentary. Over a year later, children with spinal scoliosis are still awaiting treatment. The motion before the House rightly references the 2017 European health consumer index, which rated Ireland as the worst country in Europe for hospital waiting lists. According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation's Trolley Watch figures for May, there were 9,091 people waiting for inpatient beds in that month. As we prepare for budget 2019 - we will get another chance to talk about the summer economic statement this evening - I hope the Taoiseach and his Ministers are working on measures to begin the implementation of the Sláintecare report at long last, as my colleague has said. The statistics revealed in the Sinn Féin motion this afternoon are utterly shameful. We need to take action to remedy them.

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