Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue matter. Since I was elected as a councillor in 2014, I have encountered strong, resilient people and families and have had the privilege of getting to know them. Many of those people have suffered acute brain injuries and spinal injuries resulting from farm and road accidents and so on. It is with admiration that I look upon both those people who have suffered those traumas and their families. It takes much work, not just medically but also mentally, to get people's lives back on track.

I have brought this Topical Issue matter to the floor of the House because a number of reviews and reports have been compiled since 2012 in relation to the South/South West Hospital Group. The group is responsible for approximately 1 million people in its catchment area across counties Cork, Kerry, Waterford and south Tipperary, more than 20% of our country's population, but, unfortunately, it has no access to the full range of rehabilitation services akin to what is provided in the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire. It is difficult to get a place in that rehabilitation centre, as the Minister of State knows. Many can be waiting for six to 12 months to get a place in that unit.

In 2017, Dr. Andrew Hanrahan undertook a review of rehabilitation services within the South/South West Hospital Group. A further review was taken in May 2019 and outlined the requirements for rehabilitation services in the area. In 2012, a regional specialist rehabilitation unit was first proposed for the South/South West Hospital Group to provide for patients with high to moderate intensity inpatient rehabilitation. This unit was to support patients with moderate to severe physical, cognitive or communicative disabilities, or a combination thereof. Services would be provided by trained rehabilitation staff and rehabilitation medicine consultants, supported by consultant neurologists. The review also recommended the development of a full range of rehabilitation services in the South/South West Hospital Group. That was in 2012.

We are now eight years on and I am asking that the Minister of State makes the aspiration a reality for the people of the south and the south west. I welcome, in response to a parliamentary question, a letter from Mr. Gerry O'Dwyer, chief executive officer of the South/South West Hospital Group. He stated that discussions are progressing about the development of a rehabilitation unit in Cork and an announcement will be made in the next few weeks. That is most welcome, especially for those families in Cork, Kerry, the Minister of State's native Waterford and south Tipperary who heretofore have been waiting up to 12 months for admission to the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire. People should be cared for in their own region, particularly in the context of Covid-19. It makes no sense that patients from the southern region would continue to travel to Dublin for specialist treatment that can be provided locally.

While I welcome the announcement that the rehabilitation unit is being progressed, I urge the Minister of State in the meantime to accede to requests made by consultants in Cork University Hospital for the provision of the required specialists who deal with trauma to be sanctioned. They are looking for additional rehabilitation consultants, speech and language therapists and physiotherapists, among other specialists. If this team could be put in place before the construction of a new rehabilitation unit, we could make a considerable difference to the lives of people who suffer from such debilitating diseases and serious traumas. There is currently an application with the HSE for the provision of that team, which is distinct from the application from the unit. I hope that the HSE would look favourably on that application.

I will share my remaining two minutes with Deputy O'Connor after the Minister of State has replied.

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