Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I take this opportunity to thank Deputy O'Reilly for bringing forward this motion. The Sláintecare report was mentioned a couple of times tonight. Yes, it could be the blueprint for the future if the Government would actually implement it or even set up an implementation body to implement it. We are talking about waiting lists. There is another side to waiting lists, namely, the impact on families and the individuals in pain. The documentary entitled "Living on the List" was mentioned. It brought me to tears a number of weeks ago to look at a 16 year old girl with scoliosis. It took nearly three years for her to get an operation. When she was eventually operated on, her condition has got so bad that the operation was far more complicated. Complications became apparent a number of months later when the spinal cord came off where it had been pinned. Instead of taking that young girl back to the hospital and rectifying that problem, she was nursed at home by her mother, could not go to school and was in pain 24-7. It was only when the wound at the back of her neck became septic that her mother brought her to a hospital and eventually they decided to rectify the problem. These are the real issues when it comes to waiting lists. We know that we can all provide figures but the human cost of all of this and the suffering are atrocious.

A number of weeks ago, I raised the case of a lovely little lad from east Cork who has Escobar syndrome - one of only 200 cases in the world. That poor little lad, who is seven years of age, could not even get on to a waiting list because there was no waiting list for what he needed, which was a specialist wheelchair. It was budgetary so it just goes to show how unfit for purpose the HSE is. We need to think outside the box and start looking at people again who are human.

There are over 2,400 people on the mental health waiting list waiting for CAMHS. It is totally understaffed. The fact that Waterford and Wexford will lose their full service by July was mentioned.

We must remember and be respectful towards the front-line staff in the HSE working across all services. They are stretched to the limit. It is disingenuous to knock everybody. They are the heroes but when there are constant and long waiting lists, mothers suffer mental torture and are broken emotionally because they cannot look after their child. This year alone, I sourced three wheelchairs through my office for old people because they could not even get on to a waiting list to get help. They are relying on the wheelchair until the problem festers so much that it becomes an emergency. It has been absolutely atrocious. We must sort this out. I have to say that the HSE is not fit for purpose

See this speech in context