Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy O'Reilly of Sinn Féin for proposing the motion. The motion and the whole waiting lists scandal emphasises again the dysfunctional nature of the HSE and the fact that it is not fit for purpose. There is absolutely no democratic control of the HSE. It should never have been established. Many of us who voted against its establishment warned of situations just like this arising. The HSE was never fit for purpose.

It is worthwhile putting the numbers on the record again: 700,000 people waiting for medical procedures in May of this year; 511,000 on outpatient waiting lists; 147,000 awaiting outpatient appointments for over a year; and almost 80,000 awaiting outpatient appointments longer than 18 months. These are scandalous figures. They affect not just the patients but also their families. The two-tier health system that we have ensures that the vast majority of people on these waiting lists are in the public system. They are people on social welfare payments, people on low incomes, people who are PAYE workers. There is very little waiting at all in the private system. This system affects ordinary individuals and families almost exclusively. That needs to be changed.

The summer economic statement we saw yesterday indicated that the situation is going to continue into the future. There is no significant development in that statement to suggest there will be any additional money, for instance for the Sláintecare report. It condemns 700,000 people to waiting lists right into the future. Waiting times for scoliosis, cataracts, orthopaedic procedures, urology and for the child and adolescent mental health services are absolutely outrageous. I got a letter recently from the HSE referring to urology waiting lists, on which the waiting times are about four years for urgent cases. The HSE now refuses even to put a time limit on it. The letter states that the current waiting time for the urology list is extensive - four years.

The other area I want to address specifically is the question of assessment of needs for children with disabilities.

As the Minister of State is aware, the Disability Act 2005 provides that in respect of children who are referred for assessment, the commencement of assessment should be within a three month period and should be finalised within a further three month period. This is simply non-existent now. Thousands of children across the country are waiting to be assessed. There are hundreds of children waiting to be assessed in my constituency of Tipperary. I remind the Minister of State that there is a legal obligation on the HSE to provide this assessment of needs. It is breaking the law by not doing so. A blind eye is being turned to it. I have raised this matter on a number of occasions in this Chamber and have asked the Minister to deal with the matter. He has indicated that he would but, effectively, nothing has happened. We are allowing the HSE to continue to break the law and discriminate against children who require an assessment of needs and services deriving from that assessment.

I have a letter from the HSE dated 24 May 2018 that refers to an individual child. The letter states that this child's case was discussed at a recent disability services administration meeting and that the HSE could confirm that the scheduled date for assessment would be April 2020 - two years hence. That child will be over five years of age in two years time. We all know how necessary it is for these assessments to be carried out early and for services to be provided early to children who need services such as speech therapy, psychological services, occupational therapy and a range of other necessary services. The HSE is breaking the law with regard to this service and these children. It is the duty and responsibility of the Minister to take this matter up urgently with the HSE and to have it rectified immediately.

I refer to the final item referred to by Deputy O'Reilly in the motion, which is the role of properly resourced and staffed community hospitals in taking pressure off the main hospitals and helping to reduce waiting lists. I refer to Our Lady's Hospital in Cashel in my constituency. This is a refurbished hospital that cost about €14 million. It was refurbished to provide 65 beds consisting of convalescent, district hospital and palliative care beds. That hospital has been lying idle for eight years. It has been fully refurbished at a cost of some €14 million. It is a white elephant without a single bed in it. It is empty. This hospital should be opened immediately to provide the kind of beds to which I referred. That is what the refurbishment was about. It would take huge pressure off South Tipperary General Hospital, which works at about 120% capacity every hour, every day, every week, every month and every year. The hospital should be opened immediately. The Minister has already been to the hospital and has seen the modern standards provided there and the fact that it is a white elephant that is vacant. It is time he opened that hospital. This would help with regard to waiting lists.

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