Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

A plan for reorientating, redeveloping and restarting the health service. It has to be the HSE; it cannot be NPHET. The latter has a certain mandate and a certain competency but it is the HSE's role to deliver health services in this country, otherwise, the board and governance of the HSE may as well not be there.

A piece missing from the puzzle is the issue of normality. I fear that in order to get people back to going to their appointments and re-engaging with the health service, the Government will have to look again at the three-week intervals in the roadmap. I predict that the Taoiseach and the Government will reach a pendulum point in the next few weeks, where non-Covid-19, preventable deaths could outweigh Covid-19 deaths. This is a matter the Government will have to consider carefully. How healthcare is performed, how attendances at clinics will be configured, where people will wait and the use of PPE all need to be prepared for and changed. We also know there is a danger coming down the road in the form of the winter flu. I ask the Taoiseach, please, to take on our request in the Labour Party to give the flu vaccine for free to everybody next winter. We cannot countenance dealing with Covid-19 and the flu at the same time. Please do that. I think everybody in the House believes that it is a good idea.

There have been an awful lot of good innovations that we need to keep, such as collaboration with GPs, ehealth, and video and telephone consultations. We also need to ensure we do what Mr. Paul Reid said at the beginning, namely, that we have Sláintecare on speed. The nationalisation of some of our private hospitals for the three-month period has not been optimal, and while that needs to change, it is a good thing that needs to continue. We need increased bed capacity. Sláintecare identified that and this is the quickest way of doing it. I have to say I cringed when I saw on "Prime Time" a certain consultant who said he did not care really - he was agnostic - about which door patients came through, whether public or private, for treatment at his clinic. That same consultant has not signed up to work under the current Covid-19 arrangements. I dare say that consultant would care if a patient could not pay. That needs to change.

On disability services, we have taken our eye off the ball, collectively.

I am hearing that many people with intellectual disabilities are suffering greatly. The lack of assurance on when day services and specialised services will come back into place needs to be addressed immediately. Many of these people have underlying illnesses.

The Government has not yet got its head around childcare provision. Eight weeks ago, I saw the Minister for Health's plan for this area. In fairness to the Minister, he showed me the plan. It is not acceptable that it has taken this length of time. It is also unacceptable that the detail of the plan has not been worked out by now. The plan for childcare facilities to open in intervals is not acceptable. It will not work because we need to mobilise and get people into a normal system again. The way childcare is being phased in will have to be brought forward.

The Government needs to consider extending maternity leave for women who have had children and are currently availing of this leave. We are not in a normal situation whereby children have been with their parents for a considerable period. I ask the Taoiseach to consider extending maternity leave in some way in order that these parents can look at how childcare provision can be brought about and can embrace this period with their children. There will be an issue with some childcare providers taking on young babies in the current circumstances. The Government needs to consider and plan for this.

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