Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am thankful for the opportunity to speak on the extremely important topic of healthcare provision in rural communities. I start by welcoming the opening of the new Ballyshannon Community Hospital yesterday. This is great news for the people of south Donegal, who have suffered from a lack of healthcare services for many years. A new hospital equipped to provide professional services for older people in south Donegal, north Sligo and north Leitrim is certainly welcome and well overdue. Unfortunately, however, there is still a long way to go in addressing the lack of services in Donegal.

Hospitals like Killybegs Community Hospital have the potential to provide much-needed community healthcare to rural communities if given the necessary funding. Unfortunately, the services in community hospitals like that in Killybegs are suffering due to a lack of staff and funding. I was recently contacted by constituents who were unable to receive any physiotherapy because the only physiotherapist available was on annual leave. It should never be the case that an entire hospital must rely on one physiotherapist such that the whole system collapses when that person goes on a deserved holiday. This is completely unacceptable and puts immense stress on our community healthcare workers. One constituent told me they were concerned that the lack of physiotherapy would have a negative impact on both their physical and mental health. During what is a severe mental health crisis in this country, we cannot afford to exacerbate this issue any further. Patients' mental health must be taken into account and prioritised. Community health services need better support and funding. We need to ensure the healthcare services in rural Ireland are on par with city services.

It is important that community healthcare services divert people from the hospital service. The costs crisis in hospitals would be eased if people received care where needed and could avail of it the most.

We must not underestimate the importance of our community paramedics, who provide a vital service to communities throughout Ireland. I have previously raised the issue of lack of support and appropriate training, and I urge the Government to take this issue seriously as our paramedics do an important job in bridging the gap between our community services and hospital services. They divert patients from hospitals and keep them in the community, where they can be treated most cheaply, which is vital.

I support this motion's call for the Government to increase the number of GPs through sustained Government funding and a long-term GP workforce strategy. It has become clear in recent years that Ireland does not have enough GPs to meet patient numbers, especially in rural Ireland. This is not a new issue. It has been the case for some time and the Government's lack of action is not acceptable.

I have highlighted a recent incident in a Garda station in Donegal. Gardaí were forced to hold a man with severe mental health issues for 12 hours because there were no GPs available to assess him. This was unfair not only to the man being held but also to the gardaí, who were unable to do anything else while he was in their care. This is just one of many examples of how difficult it can be to access a GP in rural Ireland. Many people in rural communities must wait for years to become a new patient, with many GPs simply not accepting new patients.

The lack of healthcare access in rural Ireland is a crisis and is leading to many delayed diagnoses and treatments. This must not go on any longer. I support the calls in this motion and sincerely hope the Government starts to address the severe issues in rural healthcare. This would help to address the problems in our hospitals, where accident and emergency services are constantly under threat. It is because people cannot get access to care and treatment in their own areas that they end up going to hospital for it.

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