Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to support Deputy Cullinane's amendment as well. It is so important. Patient advocacy groups try so hard and they are there to help patients. The vast majority of patients get top-class treatment but sometimes people fall through the cracks in some hospitals and sometimes some of the nursing homes are not up to standard either. You will hear different reasons and excuses for it but these are so important for elderly people who have worked so hard in this State, built up the State and raised families. Some of them have no families and they have no one to advocate for them; it depends on the advocacy services there are. It is so important that where there is any sniff or wrongdoing, it must be dealt with firmly and it must be stamped out. Unfortunately we have growing incidences of staff being assaulted and threatened with violence, and the utmost care must be taken to protect them because they have a challenging, caring, loving and dignified way of looking after people. They must be protected in any area where that is needed.

As the Minister knows, in some hospitals, including in my local hospital in south Tipperary, it is impossible to get a visitor, never mind an advocate, in. This has been ongoing for a long time due to bugs and whatever reasons. I was in a hospital two weeks ago tomorrow and I could walk in with no problem in the world. It was St. Vincent's University Hospital and I got well treated in that public hospital with no hassle, and there was somebody with me. However, people cannot get access to South Tipperary General Hospital, apart from on a limited basis. This has been ongoing since Covid and it is distressing for both the patient and their husband, wife or siblings. We need to move on. I know that infection control is important and vital but we have to be able to have patients have visitors. They recover better if they have visits from some of their loved ones and they do not feel as isolated as they were.

I have some scary stories of different nursing homes in different counties as well. People contacted me about bad experiences where there were not enough staff and where people were not properly cared for, which is not acceptable. Hopefully this legislation will do something about that.

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