Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The tracing system is a shambles. We see the same factories that continued their non-essential work throughout lockdown now forcing workers to take holidays over the coming weeks. We are asked to vote for regulations without scrutiny. That is not acceptable.

Are our hospitals now ready? A number of people within the health service have shared concerns with me. They could be described as whistleblowers. They have told me about deteriorating conditions within University Hospital Kerry, UHK. Management has been telling consultants to cancel surgeries so that beds can be kept in reserve. These patients have been tested for Covid and isolated for two weeks but then, the night before their surgery, they are told that it is cancelled. We discussed the chronic underinvestment. Theatres in UHK are outdated. Built in the 1980s, the orthopaedic unit urgently needs another theatre. No hip replacement procedures have been carried out since March and 150 patients have been sent to Bon Secours Hospital at a great cost to the State.

These people have told me about the treatment of nurses. Quality staff are not being offered permanent contracts. Morale is low and communication between management and staff is poor. The acute medical assessment unit, the brainchild of one consultant that has worked very well, now accepts overflow from the emergency department and, consequently, has even fewer beds. The pathology laboratory has no pathologist, despite funding being allocated for two.

The people to whom I have spoken warn of potential disaster in the area of cancer screening. The state-of-the-art endoscopy unit at the hospital is threatened with closure. The programme is being plundered and nurses are being dispersed to the wards and, as a result, the detection rate will drop and cancers will probably go undetected. The money paid to UHK from bowel screening programmes is now being used to pay the salaries of surgeons in Cork. The funds are being diverted away from Kerry.

With regard to surgery, the hospital had 70 inpatient beds, which is two full wards, and a day ward catering for 14 patients two years ago. It now has 29 inpatient beds and no day ward. The ear, nose and throat surgeon is due to retire and there are no plans to replace him. Patients in Kerry will be at risk during basic procedures such as tonsillectomies because, if complications occur, no one will be available locally to follow up. This is similar to the situation in respect of the National Treatment Purchase Fund which, apart from not representing good value of money, lacks continuity of care. Arthritis Ireland has also contacted me, as well as other Deputies, to say that the number of people waiting for rheumatology appointments increased by 26% between January and September of this year.

Staff are committed to the healthcare system and have suggested solutions. In towns of a similar size such as Clonmel, modular wards have been built. In Letterkenny, another ward was installed in the car park to deal with the trolley crisis. Nurses need to be recruited on permanent contracts. Endoscopy should be considered an essential service. The unit has the capacity to perform all types of scoping procedure but it must be staffed.

If the hospital in Kerry is to be officially downgraded, let the Minister state as much in the House and defend that decision. Kerry would ideally have its own stand-alone health board to prevent the hospital being downgraded. The situation is bad enough at the best of times as the county has the second oldest population in the State but, during a pandemic, this would be unconscionable. I ask the Government to reverse the cuts and to do right by the people of Kerry and the south west.

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