Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State mentioned that the Government is looking to increase capacity in the short term. That is fair enough to clear a waiting list but there is a problem here. The Minister of State mentioned that there are 2.5 whole-time equivalent vacancies in CHO 8, and the great number of counties included in that catchment area, but there are two audiology positions missing in Laois. There is one visiting audiologist who comes from another area. That is what is happening.

The Minister of State has confirmed the figures that I got in reply to a parliamentary question to the effect that children aged zero to four are waiting up to 156 weeks for a hearing test. One can see the damage that is being done if a child aged between zero and four years of age is waiting 156 weeks for a hearing test and the delays that would be experienced if there is a problem with a child's hearing. Children between five and 17 years of age can be waiting for up to 140 weeks, which is almost three years. That is an absolute scandal.

I take on board the point the Minister of State made about the difficulty with recruitment of audiologists but the HSE needs to be focused on recruiting these people. How many are in training? Are we encouraging people to go into training to become audiologists? If there is a shortage, what are we doing about it? I highlighted this matter in the Dáil over the past eight years. It takes roughly three to four years to train somebody in college. Have we been encouraging people to choose this as a career path? What are we doing to try to make it a career option for people so they will stay in these posts? This is a significant challenge.

We are putting more money into the HSE and the health service, there is no argument there, but we are not seeing the benefits at the other end. There are 10,000 more staff in the HSE than there were three years ago, and that is good, but where are they? What are they doing? The Minister of State said there are 800 new nurses and they will be useful but I suspect there is much existing dead wood in the system. There are roughly 110,000 people working in the HSE and yet we do not have a full-time audiologist in Laois-Offaly, among other gaps in service.

I want the Minister of State to take up the urgency of this matter with the senior officials in the Department and the HSE. Children cannot be left waiting three years for hearing tests.

See this speech in context