Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)

It is a pity the Minister for Health is not here because, unfortunately, the Minister of State has been left to read out a response which indicates that he has not even heard what I have been saying. The answer he has read suggests that the Department has exceeded targets but we are not seeing that in County Clare. The answer does not tell us what we want to hear. While I thank HCCI for this report, which clearly identifies the problem of waiting lists for home care in various counties, we should not have to rely on a report to tell us what we should be informed of by the HSE. It is the responsibility of the Government and the HSE to bring forward solutions for this, but I am not hearing solutions. The Minister of State is saying that there are increases, but they are not being seen in County Clare. These solutions have to be rooted in a clear understanding of the sources of the problems. It is deeply concerning that the HSE cannot clearly identify the causes of the current excessive waiting times in County Clare. The suggestion that County Clare has longer waiting times because it is a rural county does not hold up when other rural counties do not have the same level of waiting lists we have. The idea that it is caused by an ageing population overlooks the fact that other counties with ageing populations have shorter waiting lists than ours. This seems to be another case of postcode lottery in terms of services. We in County Clare have inadequate services and the agencies responsible do not seem to know why.

The people of County Clare have a right to feel abandoned by the Government. The HCCI stated in its report that it relies on parliamentary questions to get access to statistics and data relating to waiting lists. We need to see transparent reporting from the HSE. Will the Government instruct the HSE to compile and report on waiting lists regularly in the same way it reports on other matters? If so, when will it do so? If not, why not? This report should serve as a wake-up call. People are being left to wait and suffer in silence and that is not acceptable. Ours is a modern society in the 21st century. This dereliction of duty by the Government cannot continue. The Government and the HSE need to formulate a plan to introduce protocols for the capturing, analysing and publicising of data related to what is clearly an inadequate home care service.

See this speech in context