Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raise the adverse affect the coronavirus is having on people with various other illnesses or health issues in County Kerry and around the country. At present there are no orthopaedic procedures being carried out in Tralee General Hospital unless they are emergencies due to fractures or something very urgent. People are being told that routine procedures will take four to five years and it is two years for elective procedures. Sick people cannot visit GPs or GPs cannot visit them. Consultations are mostly by phone and this system does not help the confidence of patients in terms of recovery. There are bed reductions in our community hospitals. Killarney Community Hospital closed 15 beds. Perhaps consideration should be given to opening up the single beds in the Kenmare hospital which is a new hospital that does not have wards but single rooms. St. Columbanus Home, a public nursing home, is to close 27 beds.

This is impacting badly on people in the Killarney catchment area. Patients in hospitals or homes cannot have visitors, which is very hard on elderly people. We should be able to facilitate one or two family members every four or five days. I know of a family who brought their father home because they could not bear the thought of not seeing him in Tralee general hospital. More likely than not, elderly sick people do not have time on their side. The primary medical certificates required by disabled people, children and the elderly, including people who have had strokes, to adapt their car or help them to buy a modified car are not being processed. Where are all the billions been given to the HSE? If the HSE allocation was doubled, I do not believe it would or could deliver a proper service.

People in Kerry cannot get the flu vaccination. Doctors have only a small number of vaccines and have to decide who needs it most. People are ringing every day for more than a month and they cannot get the vaccine.

Depression and suicides have increased because of the virus. It is very clear that even before the virus Kerry did not have adequate facilities to admit patients with mental health issues. Dr. Finnerty has said that patients who have repeated admissions because of a lack of adequate facilities have to be let out and brought back in again. She calls it the revolving door of admissions. I know of one person who has been waiting in constant pain since 1 March and had a pre-operative assessment on 12 August.

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