Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank my Independent colleague, Deputy Connolly, for putting forward this motion and bringing focus to the necessity to fully restore respite care. The issue was highlighted during the pandemic. It was one of the many difficulties that were highlighted during the pandemic. Everybody was forced to live together as a family, which was all well and good but brought additional pressures to families without the additional pressures of having to look after somebody who was not fully able to look after themselves. The pandemic is still with us but is has now become endemic. During the pandemic, particularly during the lockdowns, and immediately afterwards, there was rightly a lot of focus on the necessity of opening special needs schools, etc., because families were under considerable pressure and the closures were having a negative effect on those children who attend special needs schools. Similar concerns were legitimately expressed with regard to those who needed respite care and the pressure that families were under. There was a little less focus on that issue. I thank Deputy Connolly for bringing focus to it. We need to restore respite services to the level they were at before the pandemic.

I did a quick survey of the HSE facilities in Clare to see where they were at in the past and where they are now. The discrepancy was enormous, which is in line with the point Deputy Connolly is raising. We should not necessarily have this discrepancy. People are equal and there should be a relatively equal level of service across the State. Not only is that not the case across the State, there are big discrepancies within Clare. The Minister of State is familiar with the facility is Raheen because she has visited it. That is a facility close to where I live and, in fact, it is close to me for a variety of reasons. There is currently only one respite place at Raheen Community Hospital. There were three places available before the pandemic. The Minister of State will have seen the hospital's new wing and it is hoped that when the wing is open, two extra respite places will be available, which will bring the hospital back to its pre-pandemic level of three respite places. Those two beds are closed because the hospital must maintain an isolation unit in case there is an outbreak of Covid-19. I completely accept that reasoning but I hope nobody is suggesting that respite care is not an absolute necessity. Certainly, nobody at management level in Raheen is suggesting that. Management is moving to restore those respite beds.

Regina House Community Nursing Unit in Kilrush has five respite beds now. It had six beds before the pandemic.

St. Joseph's Hospital in Ennis is the biggest community hospital serving the Ennis district. Ennis is the biggest town not only in Clare but in Munster. The hospital has no respite spaces now. There were seven places before the pandemic. That is a significant loss in a town the size of Ennis. Constituents who are trying to get family members into either respite care or into St. Joseph's have contacted me. There is a public consultation today on a new 100-bed facility to be opened in Ennis. I very much hope that constituents in Clare will avail of that public consultation because it is important.

Ennistymon in north Clare has five respite spaces whereas it had nine prior to the pandemic. Those nine included some short-stay beds for people who were being released from the acute hospitals without anywhere to go. Such people were availing of those respite beds on a very short-term basis until alternative accommodation could be found. Overall in Clare, there has been a significant drop in the availability of respite places, with a huge disparity in the level of the drop across the county. A bird's eye view of the issue needs to be taken by HSE management to ensure that one's entitlement to respite care and one's chances of getting that care are not reliant on a postcode lottery. I have already criticised the fact that we are already subject to such lotteries in the mid west with regard to accident and emergency units.

There is a horrible reality for families if people do not get respite care and if people are not able to look after family members. The last resort for every type of healthcare shortcoming is the accident and emergency unit. That is one of the many factors that is leading to the massive pressure on accident and emergency units. People have to go through the accident and emergency unit to get a variety of procedures.

I am aware of a case of a woman who was in an accident and emergency unit and did not need to be there. She was there because she needed a CAT scan. She said she would go home and make an appointment but was told if she went home she would not get it and that she must sit there and wait. That was not in the Limerick region but another part of the country. However, it is indicative of the lack of strategic management of our healthcare facilities. I am digressing slightly from this motion. I thank Deputy Connolly for introducing it and giving us the opportunity to ventilate it. It is hugely important. I support the motion.

See this speech in context