David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this Topical Issue and the Minister of State for being present. The integrated care programmes for older people, ICPOP, hub is probably one of the most exciting and positive developments I have seen in health in quite a while. It looks after people with chronic diseases through an ambulance centre. People can go there, be looked after, travel and so on.

On 10 February 2022, which is more than a year ago, we had a presentation from HSE south on this very exciting and positive development. The HSE proposed the establishment of three hubs, one of which was to be in Mallow. I understand from a parliamentary question I tabled that quite a number of staff have been recruited and appointed to the hub. Unfortunately, however, up to recently, there was no hub so there was no place for them to work. I understand that in the past couple of days since my parliamentary question was tabled there has been some movement, which I welcome. I want to see more of that movement and the hub established. The HSE said at the time that it was a work in progress but it is quite a bit of time since February 2022. The HSE is now establishing a hub in the primary care centre in Mallow, in addition to some other places.

This initiative will be of huge benefit to people. I ask the Department and the Minister of State to support the further roll-out of this project, to ensure that an adequate premises is identified, located and made available for people who are working there, and that the staff, who have been recruited and are very excited about this, can actually begin their work. I understand some of them may have been doing very little for the past while. For instance, I received a report from the HSE indicating that the total number of patients in north Cork reviewed in May by the respiratory team was 11. From what I can see in the report, three people are working on that team but just 11 patients were seen in a month by those three professionals. The Minister of State is good at maths; she can work that out. There were 66 people seen by the diabetes team, again, in a month. People on those teams could probably be doing an awful lot more and want to do more. It is just a matter of getting it done.

I will raise another issue. The Minister of State will know the geography and that Mallow is in the centre of north Cork, but it covers a big area. It is covering community healthcare organisation, CHO, areas 4, 5 and 6, as far as Youghal, which is more than an hour's drive away. We need to start planning ahead to get these hubs spread out a little more. Cork is a big county. If somebody has to drive 74 km and take more than an hour and ten minutes to get to Mallow, they probably will not do it. We either have to move staff to where those people are or, ideally, plan ahead to open another hub, possibly in Youghal or somewhere in east Cork to care for those people.

It is a very positive development. I am not here to criticise, attack or give out but I encourage the Minister of State, the Department and the fantastic people in the HSE who put this together to drive it on, make it happen, get the staff working and get the service out to the people who need, want and deserve it. As I said, it will make a huge difference to people. It is a home support.

People can live at home, get the support they need without having to go into a hospital and manage chronic diseases such as respiratory diseases, diabetes and cardiac issues. I look forward to the Minister of State's response.

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