Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Donnelly for bringing forward this relevant and important motion. I will focus on the delayed discharges and the impact they are having on families and the patients. I can offer some statistics for the Minister as he leaves the Chamber. From January 2019 to date, Naas General Hospital has lost 5,883 bed days due to delayed discharges. This figure is one of the highest for a hospital outside Dublin. Another statistic relates to people over 75 years of age. In October, there were 69 people over 75 years of age on trolleys in the emergency department for more than 24 hours. From January to date, the total was 851 people over 75 years old on hospital trolleys in the emergency department for 24 hours or more. That is just a flavour of the reality on the ground. We are all trying to work together but the Government must bring forward solutions to improve these statistics for the most vulnerable.

The main reasons for delayed discharges are the lack of access to appropriate step-down care, such as the home care that we have discussed with the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, on a number of occasions, and the lack of housing adaptation grants, particularly for local authority houses. For example, €450,000 was allocated to Kildare County Council to provide housing adaptation grants for its housing stock. That is not nearly enough and discharges are being delayed as a result. People cannot go home because they need adaptations carried out in their houses. With regard to home care, people are assessed in the hospital but what they require cannot be delivered because the funding is not available. That is causing them to stay in hospital, thus leading to bed blocking and so forth in the hospital.

These are two fundamental areas that require attention and delivery. People want to be at home in their houses because that is where they are happiest and can live independently. That frees up the health system for the treatment of other patients. The home care team in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 7 has told me that it cannot approve home care packages due to the lack of funding. That is leading to bed blocking and has the knock-on effect of patients being unable to access hospitals, including the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire, due to delayed discharges. The solution is clear. We must put further resources into the home care area, in which the Minister of State is involved, and housing adaptation grants. That combination will facilitate discharges and help people to live independently at home. Along with the housing issue, this is the single biggest crisis that all Deputies deal with in their constituencies each week.

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