Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on the Bill this evening. It will provide for the recognition of non-Irish professional qualifications which have been recognised by the Minister and State bodies prior to the introduction of statutory registration for health and social care professionals. They will continue to be recognised for the purpose of registration under the Act. In layman's terms, the Bill will allow holders of non-Irish professional qualifications to be registered and to be able to practise their professions here in Ireland. The existing legislation does not allow for the registration of non-EU persons or persons with non-EEA qualifications whose qualifications had previously been recognised in Ireland. Currently, we have a shortage of healthcare professionals and the Bill could help relieve the problem. I have repeatedly called on the Government to act to reduce the long waiting lists that exist, but it is not listening.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and I have taken 18 buses to Belfast and the 19th is travelling next week to allow people to avail of a 15 minute cataract procedure. Otherwise, they would be expected to wait for up to four years for such treatment on the public waiting list. I had a constituent in his 90s who was expected to wait four years for a cataract procedure. He was slowly getting more blind each year and I dread to think would have happened if he was still waiting on the Government to provide a cataract procedure for him.

On many occasions in this Chamber I suggested that Bantry General Hospital or Mallow General Hospital could be utilised for cataract procedures as that would go a long way to reducing waiting lists. In Belfast the hospitals operate a weekend model where procedures such as cataracts, hips, knees and every other imaginable operation can take place on Saturdays and Sundays. Why can we not have a similar system here? Why do most hospitals shut down in Ireland at 5 p.m. on a Friday evening and real healthcare only resumes on Monday morning? We cannot continue to do that if we are to tackle waiting lists and help people who are suffering while waiting for procedures to be carried out. It is a joke. We know that many operating theatres, especially in rural hospitals, are not operating at full capacity. Some of them only operate two to three days a week. I have been told that it is due to staffing levels. No wonder our waiting lists are at an extremely critical point in this country.

I met the management of Bantry General Hospital as recently as last month to put forward the suggestion that the hospital could provide cataract procedures. I keep hearing the argument that the hospital does not have enough staff or facilities for such procedures in rural hospitals. Therefore, the sooner this Bill is amended, the sooner appropriately qualified healthcare professionals can register with the registration board and practise their professions. It is important that happens across the health sector.

I do not shy away from the fact that this is an important Bill. It is vital that we have proper regulations and that there is proper accountability. That goes without saying. We also need to address the fact that we have an influx of returning emigrants. I welcome them home, but I want to address the issues they face. For them to continue in their profession they must establish that while they were abroad they gained a certain degree of professional experience. Currently, there is undue delay in dealing with them. A board meeting must be held to establish their level of experience among other things. It is an inefficient system to have a board meeting. We should consider a board having a designated officer who would operate in accordance with the established criteria of the board. Such an officer would be a professional who would understand the board's objectives and criteria, and who could adjudicate on individual applicants, thus speeding up the process for returning emigrants who want to work in the medical profession. We must examine such matters as we need to encourage nurses, health and social care professionals to return to Ireland. How are we encouraging such healthcare professionals to return home when they are left in limbo on returning home? We know there are health professionals who have returned home who have been left waiting months for their registration. That is unacceptable. Those people on returning home cannot immediately work in their profession because of the delay in processing their registration and they have to resort to taking up part-time, unskilled work. That is an appalling way to treat our healthcare professionals.

Returning emigrants from Australia, the US and England not only have to face the difficulty of applying for their professional registration, they also have the difficulty of sorting out their banking, insurance cover and driving licence. All those are major issues for our emigrants returning home. Why are we making it so hard to welcome people home and get them back into their old employment to do what they have been trained for down through the years? We should welcome them with open arms.

I will be a little parochial, but this is an important and valid point. Presumably the same situation is found in other places. There are two consultant posts in Bantry General Hospital which have not been filled because the hospital cannot get consultants. Why is that? I firmly belief proper incentives are not being given to attract consultants to take up those positions in the hospital.

The Minister of State knows the importance of Bantry General Hospital to over 84,000 people in west Cork and much of Kerry. The Minister for Health was there recently, making announcements. He can be making announcements until the cows come home but if the consultants are not there to carry out the work, there is no point making any announcement. In the case of Bantry General Hospital, we have to put in the foundation before we start talking about all the other things that need to be done there. In my view, the foundation is the consultants. The HSE has failed to provide incentives that would bring consultants to the hospital. It has left it in a situation where the two consultants that are required have not been attracted and the posts have had to be advertised again. Are there incentives this time to attract consultants? If not, we are back to square one. As the Minister of State knows, management is doing an excellent job in Bantry General Hospital but we need the HSE to wake up.

We have a five-day hospital when we should have a seven-day hospital. Many people are suffering. I know of a young mother in west Cork who urgently needed an MRI scan at the weekend because she was suffering serious pain but she could not get it. That is outrageous and very unfair, and issues like this have to be tackled. We seem not to understand the system that is needed. It is sad that I have to go to the North of Ireland to see how the system works. If the Minister of State walks into Kingsbridge hospital in Belfast, he will see how it works, and he is welcome to come with me sometime. It is flat out there on Saturdays and Sundays. People are cared for, no matter what their situation or their ailments, seven days a week, non-stop. That is the system we need to build. We have a second class healthcare system at the moment and it will stay second class until we tackle those issues. I will support the Bill.

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