Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion. It is a pertinent motion because my father is in an ambulance on the way to UHL at the moment. I have just come off the phone. That is why I have been in and out a bit. He has been quite unwell lately. Both of my parents have been quite unwell for some time and the last thing my father ever wants to do is to go to UHL. Forget about politics for a minute; this is my father. The last thing that man wants to do is to go in to UHL. That is a terrible indictment of all of us.

I was told previously that anyone over 80 would be prioritised. That went out the window, as we know. He is dreading what he is facing into. I have been there loads of times previously when he was on trolleys for days. A young man from Limerick in his forties who was sick offered to swap his bed for my father's trolley the last time he was in UHL, but it was not allowed. I do not know what I am facing into in the next hours, days and weeks, but it is an indictment that a man who worked hard all his life is crying and absolutely dreading going in there. People from where I live - I live very close to Limerick hospital, closer than some of the other TDs in the mid-west, although I live in Tipperary - do not want to go into UHL because of the situation we have been left with. It is an indictment of us all that people who are 85 years of age have to worry so much, not just about what is wrong with them, but also about the service provision and how it could affect them. They wonder whether it is worse to go in. Anyone of a certain age in the mid-west would say the same thing my father says to me. They just do not want to go in there. Many times I have heard people say they would rather stay at home and face the consequences. What in the name of God is going on when that is the scenario?

I have spoken more about this topic than I have about any other topic in my political career. It is the reason I got involved in politics. In my office, I have a placard from the mid-noughties. It is a note to Hanly. Then there was the Teamwork report and everything else.

I do not want to repeat all the stuff I have said here. I do not have the time. What happened to Aoife Johnston was an absolute disgrace and there are more than her. It is a failure of the system, but one that, dare I say it, was predictable. We do not know what has happened down through the years. The simple facts of the matter are - I am not just talking about the accident and emergency department - that the decision to centralise everything in UHL was utter madness because it was not followed through with resources. The country was going down the tubes at the time so it was never going to happen and the people of the mid-west have been the guinea pigs for reconfiguration. We have suffered.

The community services cannot deal with it because the acute system is so bad. We simply do not have the community facilities because the acute system cannot and will not be able to deal with it. Various people have been in charge of the acute and non-acute systems across the mid-west for the 20 years I have been in politics. In those past 20 years, I do not care who was in charge. I am not sure how anyone could ever manage it, it is that bad.

Some really good things happen outside it. The best cancer service in Ireland was developed in Limerick. I know all about it. However, in recent months that has been suffering. This is one point I have not raised before. Will the Minister look into this because I know a lot of people who are very worried about it. There were never waiting times for chemotherapy in Limerick. It was very efficient. I have heard more people compliment it than I have eaten dinners. It is an amazing service run by amazing people, but the lack of specialised nurses there at the moment means there is now a prioritisation list. Basically, it depends on how advanced a person's cancer is and all the other metrics. That is deeply worrying. Will the Minister please ask how we can get the required specialist nurses into that system again to ensure it does not happen? Those people certainly, of all the people who go in, outside trauma, are the people we need to prioritise. They are now suffering. It has become so bad that scalp cooling has now ceased because they do not have the capacity to do it any more. For patients with cancer, scalp cooling is important. It is a real issue. I say this and ask that we park the politics for a second. As bad as the situation is in UHL, getting in through the system, the cancer service is there. Until a year ago, key performance indicators, KPIs, were the top in Ireland. They have now dropped and that is down to resources.

I acknowledge the former clinical lead, Dr. Gerry Burke who for many years fought with the system, to his own detriment, may I add. He pointed out the resource deficiencies in the mid-west. I accept that progress has been made. It was badly needed. It is as obvious as the eyes in our heads.

I did not come into the Chamber to say this. In his speech the Minister said the 96-bed block would be open in the first quarter of next year. Last weekend the chief executive of the HSE said it will be mid-year next year.

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