Dáil debates

Wednesday, 18 January 2023

Capacity in the Health Services: Motion [Private Members]

 

7:50 pm

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has to listen to him and follow the advice he has given. In the view of the committee, that is sound advice. People were very taken, when Mr. Kearns came in, and said this is such a breath of fresh air and makes sense and asked why we are not doing this quickly. That is where things have to go, and quickly.

On the memorandum that went to Cabinet on this, the decision of Cabinet was flawed. The three options in that memorandum were, basically, do nothing, do a little bit, or do the job properly. Unfortunately, the Cabinet opted for do a little bit, and that will not cut it. If the Minister is to do this, he must do it properly. The Minister would have the entire backing of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health if he goes back to Cabinet and states we need to strengthen this because it will not work unless it has legislative underpinning, specifically in accountability.

The other key issue is to implement all the recommendations of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler's expert group. It is such low-hanging fruit to tackle the delayed discharges and yet there have been incredible delays in tackling that issue. We talk about extra beds etc. We need extra beds but there are 600 beds that are inappropriately used. When will we see the recommendations of the Minister of State's report implemented in full?

A key part of that is to implement the recommendation on the living wage. That is how we get more people to sign up to be carers. According to a number of people who have examined this area in detail from an academic point of view, it also would help greatly to attract more male carers to come into the system. We cannot delay any longer. We need to see all of those recommendations put in place within the next few months. It is not sustainable to continue with 600 in delayed discharges. While a number of those have been moved, they would fill up again quickly.

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