Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to contribute on this very important issue. I congratulate the Minister on his appointment and wish him well. We were colleagues on the health committee in the past and I assure him that I will be constructive, innovative and progressive as required. There is no doubt that the challenges ahead are numerous and no more difficult than the challenges of recent years. The Department has received a great deal of criticism in recent years. It was alleged that it did not have the ability, personnel or commitment to deal with the crisis or the commitment of the Government. The list goes on. The fact remains, and it is blatantly obvious now, that the Department, the HSE in general and every member of the health services on the front line, middle lines and back line committed themselves, in the past six months in particular, to dealing with the crisis and they did it extremely well. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude for the work they did and undertook. They succeeded not in bringing the virus to a halt but certainly in containing it and I hope that will continue.

I hope the Minister will be able to continue the work of his predecessor. I acknowledge the role played by his predecessor, who was in a very difficult situation at a sad time for the country, the services and everybody. He continued stoically to deliver and stayed with the system, keeping in mind the central role that had to be played and he did so successfully.

In the past, I have strongly supported the democracy of the health services, in the sense that much can be learned from those at the coalface and those at ground level throughout the regions and in every aspect of the delivery of the services. They are the people who know first hand what is required. They know it earlier than most others. The important thing, particularly with regard to Sláintecare, is that as it develops barbs may well appear from time to time to hold up the system and slow down the smoothness of the evolution of the health service that is now envisaged. This will need to be monitored and the Minister knows this better than most. There will arise occasions that perhaps were not anticipated and they will need particular treatment and this is important. I know he has the nature to deal with this type of situation as it arises.

Another aspect of the system we need to look at now is the degree to which community care is developed in future, including home care for patients who have the option of being cared for at home. As I have said previously, this costs money. It is not free and it requires good organisation. We also have the ongoing demands with regard to children with special needs. We need to try to ensure the health services extend to those children everything that is possible as and when required.

We also need to look at the medical card system and how it operates. Something that is quite annoying is when, for example, a person making an application might not be familiar with the bureaucratic system and may not supply all of the information required. It is particularly irritating that such people are informed the file is closed and that a new application must be made. It may well be that many of these people are in poor health or are in fear of their emerging health situation. They may have many demanding issues on their minds at the time and cognisance needs to be taken of the fact that they need to be listened to carefully and accommodated in so far as possible in every which way.

I wish the Minister well and I hope that he can rise to the occasion and deal with the long list of issues ahead of him. We will help him in every way possible. He might not think it is helpful at the time but we will do our best.

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