Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

We saw in the budget last month the political choice to underfund our health service. At the Joint Committee on Health in September, the CEO of the HSE said the level of underfunding would amount to between €1.4 billion and €1.5 billion in 2023. On the same day, the Secretary General of the Department of Health said this budget would be a definite underfunding of existing levels of service. The Government totally ignored warnings from healthcare trade unions and patient advocacy organisations of the catastrophic consequences of this dramatic underfunding. Anyone who has had to deal with the crisis in the HSE could tell you the same thing.

Six days ago, there was the release of the first Irish national ICU audit annual report. The report showed the crisis in the number of ICU beds. It found that there are just six critical care beds per 100,000 people, less than half of the OECD average of 14.1. The average ICU bed occupancy was 88.5%, above the recommended maximum of 85%.

I, like all other Deputies, know we are dealing with a crisis across the HSE but I raise the particular cases of two women directly affected by the lack of ICU beds. Both have been awaiting care for years due to a lack of ICU beds for post-operative care. One woman waited four years for an operation on her scoliosis originally scheduled in 2018. She only got the operation after I raised it in the House a number of times. In February this year, after suffering from worsening pain and discomfort, it was found that the bones around her spine had weakened and the rods and screws had become loose. She had a further scan in May. It had got worse and she was told surgery was needed urgently. She is still waiting in a lot of pain as her doctor told her there are no ICU beds available for her to have her operation.

I am also aware of another case of a woman with a hernia. She is in great pain. Her stomach has distended because her organs have come out of place. She has been waiting in pain since 2019 as her doctor has told her there is no ICU bed for her to have her operation. This woman has been waiting since 2019. I raised this matter a number of times in parliamentary questions. How will the HSE deliver care for people like these two women I am working with when it has been underfunded by this Government? It made a political decision to underfund our health service. It is essentially a cut given inflation and growth in demand at a time when people are in pain for months and years because of a lack of services and beds. What will the Taoiseach do to increase ICU bed capacity despite the budget restrictions his Government has imposed on the HSE?

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