Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 5: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the new services she proposes to put in place to provide for adults and children suffering from cystic fibrosis; and if she will launch a public and ongoing advertising campaign to encourage the public to carry organ donor cards to facilitate the greater availability of organs for heart and lung transplant operations. [2890/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The improvement of services to persons with cystic fibrosis has been a priority of mine. The negative experience recounted by some patients is a matter of concern to me.

In 2006 and 2007, additional revenue funding of €6.78 million was provided to the Health Service Executive. Some 44 additional staff, covering both adult and paediatric services, have been appointed across a number of hospitals, throughout the country and necessary funding is available to facilitate the recruitment of a further 37 staff nationally.

The HSE was asked to place a particular focus on the development of services at the national adult tertiary referral centre at St. Vincent's Hospital. A number of capital projects have recently been completed at the hospital and have helped to improve facilities. These include a new ambulatory care centre, the refurbishment of St. Camillus ward and a new accident and emergency department, which includes single room accommodation. However, I accept that these developments do not address the immediate needs of patients.

The HSE is currently fast-tracking the redevelopment of a ward which is adjacent to the main cystic fibrosis treatment area. The project is to commence within the next few weeks and will provide six single rooms. On completion, additional work will begin to provide a further eight single rooms. This will result in a total of 14 single rooms for cystic fibrosis patients by the end of the summer.

In the longer term, a new ward block is to be built, which will include 120 replacement beds in single en suite accommodation, including accommodation for cystic fibrosis patients. Planning permission has been obtained, financial provision has been included in the HSE capital plan and the contract is to be awarded this year. It will be a condition of the contract that the design build period is to be not more than 24 months from the date of contract award.

Beaumont Hospital operates as a regional centre in providing services to adults with cystic fibrosis. In 2008, a special allocation of €2.5 million capital funding was provided to enable Beaumont Hospital to provide outpatient facilities for cystic fibrosis patients.

I am keen to support and promote initiatives designed to increase the level of organ donation in this country. I have supported the annual organ donor awareness campaign, organised by the Irish Donor Network and administered by the Irish Kidney Association. I also want to ensure that the organ procurement and retrieval rate is maximised at hospitals around the country. A national audit of potential organ donors commenced last September in 35 acute hospitals with intensive care units. The audit will seek to identify any obstacles to donation and any measures which may be required to increase the level of donation and retrieval of organs at individual hospitals.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Would the Minister accept that the manner in which we have treated cystic fibrosis patients and their parents and families is a national disgrace and scandal? Is she aware there are over 1,100 patients with cystic fibrosis in this country at the moment, the highest proportion of patients per head of population of any other country? Is she aware that a person born in Ireland with cystic fibrosis has an average life expectancy that is ten years less than a patient in similar circumstances suffering from cystic fibrosis in the United Kingdom or in Northern Ireland and does she regard that as acceptable?

Does the Minister acknowledge that, as is the position in adult hospitals, many of the cystic fibrosis units, including those relating to paediatrics and the clinic in Crumlin hospital, do not have ring-fenced, dedicated inpatient wards with single en suite rooms to prevent cross-infection? Will she acknowledge there is a need to urgently establish such facilities in tandem with providing them for adult patients who suffer from cystic fibrosis?

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I can certainly acknowledge that the facilities we have in place are not what they should be. However, I equally acknowledge, as have many of the families and the organisation, that the services have greatly improved, particularly with regard to the employment of clinical expertise. I accept that in this and many other areas the need for single rooms is a priority. That is the reason the new paediatric hospital for the country will be all single rooms.

The measures being taken at St. Vincent's Hospital, which will be completed by the end of the summer, are only temporary. It was the hospital's wish that the cystic fibrosis facilities would be part of the 120-bed facility to be built there. For many reasons, the hospital did not believe it was appropriate to build a cystic fibrosis unit separate from the 120-bed facility. That is the reason a modular-type facility will be put in place and ready by the end of the summer.

We have a long way to go. The Deputy is correct that we have 1,100 cystic fibrosis patients, 45% of whom are children and 55% are adults. The life expectancy has greatly improved here, as acknowledged by Professor McElvaney.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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It is still substantially less than in the UK or Northern Ireland.

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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It is somewhat less, not substantially. I accept that and I accept the incidence of cystic fibrosis is higher here. The Deputy is probably aware there are many reasons for that. The issue is a priority. In each of the last three years, since I became Minister for Health and Children, we have put specific ring-fenced funding into the area of cystic fibrosis. In the service plan approval I gave to the HSE before Christmas for 2008, I made special reference to the need to strengthen the facilities for cystic fibrosis patients.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Is the Minister aware that since 1983 all newborn babies in Northern Ireland have been screened at birth for cystic fibrosis? Is she aware this not only allows an early diagnosis, but allows at an early stage for appropriate treatment to be commenced? Is she aware the average age in Ireland for discovering whether a child has cystic fibrosis is two years? There is also a gender gap as girls are diagnosed later than boys. Will the Minister acknowledge there is an urgent need to introduce a neonatal screening programme?

In the context of the Minister saying the issue is a priority, can she explain how it is that while her Department was asked to commence such a programme in 2003 and it was promised in 2005, it has not yet been introduced? How is it that the HSE is now intimating that it may or may not introduce such a programme in 2008? Will the Minister indicate whether a neonatal screening programme will be commenced in 2008?

To return to St. Vincent's Hospital, will the Minister acknowledge that the number of rooms that will be provided by the short-term initiative now being taken are grossly inadequate to meet the need in this area? Will she explain why the suggestion of a prefabricated unit on an emergency basis with a far greater number of rooms has been turned down? Will she acknowledge she has now told the House something different about the proposed facility? It was announced recently that within two years the construction in St. Vincent's would be completed and the single rooms necessary would be available. Today she has told the House that sometime later this year contracts will be signed. It will take 24 months for the construction to take place. Presumably, the new unit will then have to be commissioned. Will the Minister confirm we are probably four years away from the new extra badly needed facilities being available and will she admit this is unacceptable?

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Deputy must have misunderstood me. I said the contract would be awarded this year and a condition of it would be that the facility would have to be completed within 24 months.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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That will be three years.

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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No, it will not. The contract will be awarded in 2008 and the facility will be completed in 2010. Nobody has said any different.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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How early in 2008 will it be awarded?

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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It will be the latter half of this year and it will be completed by the latter half of 2010. That is what we have always said. It is what Professor Drumm said when speaking on the issue a few weeks ago.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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That is still three years away.

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Deputy may not be aware, but when capital projects are approved, Revenue funding is provided in tandem with that approval. Therefore, there will not be a big gap between the completion and commissioning of the facility.

The 14 single rooms provided at St. Vincent's will be a significant improvement and will operate via direct access rather than through the accident and emergency unit. We must also provide greater community-based services. Just last week, I met a young girl who is a cystic fibrosis patient. She indicated to me that her counterparts in other countries can receive many of the services at community level for which she must go to hospital. Professor Drumm, who treated cystic fibrosis patients in Canada, has strong views in that regard.

The HSE has announced it intends to put a screening programme in place later this year. The Deputy may have seen that announcement in the health supplement of The Irish Times about two weeks ago.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Why has it taken so long? Can it be in place this year?

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I hope so.