Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

After 39 years, the Taoiseach made the startling discovery yesterday that Christmas comes every December. There may indeed be scope to change rostering at Christmas time, but the Taoiseach should not blame hospital staff, as he did, whatever the Minister says. He mentioned staff taking their annual entitlement to leave. Rostering and ensuring the presence of sufficient staff, as the Minister has said, is a management issue and should be addressed through constructive engagement with trade unions and not with abuse of people, either in this House or on public airwaves.

Another annual phenomenon in the health service is that, towards the end of the year, a number of budget lines run out. I am aware of several cases where people cannot access a home care package because the budget has apparently run out. They are told to reapply in January. That is ludicrous. If the Government is serious about using hospital resources effectively and efficiently, including very expensive acute beds, to take the pressure off the busy Christmas and winter period, surely it makes sense to provide step-down beds and home care packages to patients in acute hospital beds who are awaiting transfer home. Many patients are most anxious and could more appropriately be cared for at home. They want to be at home. In the budget of €17 billion just allocated by this House to the Department of Health, we know the money will be there in January. It is purely an administrative decision not to issue home care packages now. Telling people occupying economically acute beds which are very inappropriate with regard to health to apply again in January is madness. The decision will worsen our bed capacity and the capacity of hospitals to respond to emergencies in the critical winter period approaching. The Government management of the home care package budget makes no sense to anybody.

Will the Government undertake to unblock the delays in giving home care packages to the list of people that anybody in this House can provide? They are waiting to go home to a more appropriate and less expensive setting. Will the Government ensure that patients who need home care packages, such as those who are contacting my office in Wexford, whose details I can give, will be home for Christmas?

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