James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I wish to share time with Deputy Terence Flanagan.

Cystic fibrosis is a serious illness and one in 19 people are carriers of the cystic fibrosis gene. Where two parents with the gene marry, there is a one in four chance that their child will be born with the condition. Each year, 40 to 50 children are born with cystic fibrosis and there are currently in the region of 1,200 people who suffer with it. The disturbing aspect of this matter is that, on average, people in this country with cystic fibrosis live ten years less than those who reside in the UK or Northern Ireland. This is because we do not have proper neonatal screening so we can detect people with this problem early on and prevent infections, we do not have proper home care supports and, most importantly, we do not have any isolation units in our hospitals. Neither Temple Street Children's Hospital nor Beaumont Hospital on the north of the city have these facilities for children or adults. A total of 80% of adult sufferers are treated in either St. Vincent's Hospital or Cork University Hospital, neither of which has isolation facilities.

We know we need a 34-bed unit, which we hope will be built in St. Vincent's Hospital, but when will it be built? The Taoiseach, the Minister and the Department of Health and Children met with the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland, which has received assurances. However, it is still no further down the line. Even though €4.78 million was allocated, I understand that many people have not been employed due to contractual difficulties. We still have the glaring problem of the lack of isolation beds in our system. It cannot be that expensive to build these beds on to existing hospital structures. This cannot be yet another situation where we are asked to live horse and eat hay. People need these facilities now. People in our country are dying ten years sooner than they need to purely because of the lack of this simple measure which a Government should put in place immediately. I ask the Government to do so.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank Deputy Reilly for the opportunity to speak about cystic fibrosis and the lack of services for sufferers in Ireland. As a Deputy representing Dublin North-East, I am very aware of this issue. During the general election campaign, many members of the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland actively campaigned on this issue and brought it to my attention. I thank those people and commend them for their good work.

As Deputy Reilly noted, with 1,200 or so patients in Ireland, we have the highest proportion of people with cystic fibrosis in the world. This is totally unacceptable. Life expectancy for sufferers is significantly lower in Ireland than in Northern Ireland and the UK. One might ask this Minister why this should be the case. As Deputy Reilly noted, there is a severe lack of neonatal screening, home care and supports for sufferers and families, and isolation beds for sufferers of the disease. Medical cards are not available to young sufferers of the disease who deserve them.

All this could be changed overnight if the Minister for Health and Children had the political will to deliver proper cystic fibrosis services. Fine Gael recognises the serious deficiencies in services for cystic fibrosis sufferers in Ireland and the difficulties they are faced with on a daily basis. We deplore the fact that the life expectancy of cystic fibrosis patients in the Republic of Ireland is lower than in the North of Ireland.

At a time of unprecedented economic success, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats failed to implement the recommendations of the Pollock report. Funding was set aside in the 2006 budget for the recruitment of 57 additional specialist staff. Can the Minister confirm if they have been recruited? Are they another victim of the Minister's cutbacks, recruitment ban and other barriers? Have more nurses been appointed?

Fine Gael is acutely aware of the dangers posed to sufferers of cystic fibrosis by waiting in overcrowded accident and emergency departments, the spread of hospital acquired infections and the lack of isolation facilities. We on this side of the House are tired of Fianna Fáil inaction which continues to put people's lives at risk. Fine Gael's main priority, which should also be that of the Minister, is to see that cystic fibrosis sufferers benefit from world class treatment so they can lead more productive, active and healthy lifestyles.

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. I will be taking the Adjournment debate on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Harney, the Minister for Health and Children. The Minister has identified the enhancement of services to persons with cystic fibrosis as a key priority. Indeed, the Minister, along with the Taoiseach, met with the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland earlier this month to review the progress that has been made in improving services for persons with cystic fibrosis over the past two years and to discuss the need in particular to improve the infrastructure within which these services are provided.

Additional revenue funding of nearly €7 million was provided over the past two years to develop services for persons with cystic fibrosis. This funding was provided to facilitate the recruitment of additional consultant, nursing and allied health professional staff and to improve services nationally. The HSE has advised me that each of its networks was given notification of the specific funding available for their areas and the specific posts associated with the funding. The HSE has informed the Department that 39 additional posts are now in place.

The HSE was also asked to address, in particular, the identified infrastructural and service deficits at the national adult referral centre at St. Vincent's Hospital in Dublin. In this context, additional revenue funding of €300,000 was provided to the hospital in 2005 and an additional €1 million was provided in 2006 to facilitate the recruitment of additional medical, nursing and allied health professional staff.

The new ambulatory day care centre, which is part of a €203 million investment at the hospital, includes specialist clinic facilities for cystic fibrosis patients. In addition, the new emergency department allows for increased isolation capacity at the hospital. This is frequently utilised by persons with cystic fibrosis.

Interim refurbishment of facilities for cystic fibrosis patients has recently been completed at the hospital and comprises the re-designation of 15 beds as respiratory-cystic fibrosis beds, bringing the total number of respiratory-cystic fibrosis beds to 44.

A project team has been appointed to progress the next phase of development at St. Vincent's University Hospital. This team includes representatives of both the hospital and the HSE. It is intended that this development will include the provision of dedicated facilities for patients with cystic fibrosis. These facilities will provide, in particular, private single room accommodation with en-suite bathrooms for inpatients, together with appropriate isolation facilities for patients who require it. In addition, the project team is giving consideration to such issues as the need for separate access routes to the unit.

In addition to the infrastructural developments to be carried out at St. Vincent's University Hospital, the HSE is also considering the need for additional infrastructural improvements at Cork and Galway university hospitals.

In respect of cystic fibrosis services for children, a new outpatient clinic called the Medical Tower opened at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, in 2005. This has considerably improved the facilities available to treat the large number of children with cystic fibrosis attending the hospital.