Dáil debates
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Adjournment Debate
Hospital Services
6:00 pm
Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Last week I tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister for Health and Children on the construction of our new community hospital in Kenmare, County Kerry. I was disappointed with his reply, which was that this is a matter for the Health Service Executive, HSE. With all due respect, this is nonsense. I really appreciated the new workmanlike approach of the new, Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and their Ministers. I did not expect a new Minister to do exactly what he criticised his predecessor for doing, that is, hiding behind the HSE.
This matter is of national importance. While Kenmare hospital is important to me and to my constituents, there is a bigger national issue. Will the new Minister in future when asked health-related questions hide behind the HSE? I genuinely hope that he will not and I hope the reply I received last week will be a one off. Surely the buck stops on all health matters with the Minister for Health and Children. All I want is straight answers to straight questions with no messing around. I thought we had moved away from that type of political gerrymandering. I expect more from the new Government, which I hope will be forthcoming. The people voted for change in the recent general election and the Government parties are doing their best given the dire financial situation in which we find ourselves but it does not look good when a Member of this House asks a straight, honest question and cannot get a straight, honest answer.
We are fortunate in Kenmare that over the years we had an excellent matron who had an excellent staff running a great community hospital. We have a new matron who again is highly respected in the community, as are the staff who work with her. The ambulance personnel provide an invaluable service covering a wide hinterland and they have to be complimented on their excellent local knowledge and their impressive response times to incidents in the town and its environs. Our hospital is very important to us.
I acknowledge the work done on this issue by my father, former Deputy Jackie Healy-Rae, and the commitment of the previous Government. The then Taoiseach included the construction of a new community hospital in Kenmare in the capital programme for 2010. This project did not fall out of the sky. It was lobbied for but there was a genuine case for a new community hospital. It had been prioritised by the HSE previously and it was debated at meetings I attended with the HSE. It was put forward as a priority.
Since then the project has progressed, planning permission has been granted, drawings completed and contracts are all in order. Considerable funding has been expended. The people of Kenmare and its environs have waited for construction to start for long enough. In 1999 when I started out on the old Southern Health Board, the first motion I tabled at the first meeting I attended was to prioritise an new extension for the hospital. Little did I think all those years ago that I would be standing in the House tonight still looking for the same thing - a fair deal for the people of Kenmare and its environs. I acknowledge the HSE's work on this project, in particular, that of its local management in County Kerry who committed to prioritising a new community hospital for Kenmare.
There is not a family in the locality that has not been affected in a positive way by the excellent care given by the matron and staff in the hospital. They deserve a new hospital, as do the people, and if it is provided, the capital expenditure involved will be minuscule when compared to the service that will be provided for many years to come. I sincerely call on the new Government and the Minister to allow construction to go ahead. I thank the Minister of State for taking the matter on behalf of the Minister and I hope he will give a positive response without hiding behind the HSE. That is not what Members or the people expect from the new Government. We expect much better.
Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children. I thank the Deputy for raising it. This provides me an opportunity to update the House on this matter and to outline the position, especially in regard to the handling of parliamentary questions by the Minister for Health and Children. Approximately 6,000 parliamentary questions are tabled each year to the Minister, of which approximately 60% relate to operational issues, which are referred to the HSE for direct reply to Deputies. These questions refer to individual patients and day-to-day operational matters. The HSE is a statutory body with its own Vote and Accounting Officer and is statutorily responsible for operational matters in the health service. There is a commitment in the HSE's 2011 service plan to answer 75% of the referred questions within 15 working days.
A number of initiatives have recently been undertaken by the HSE to help improve response times to parliamentary questions. These include the introduction of a new IT system - due to go live shortly - the appointment of regional co-ordinators and the introduction of a dedicated web page for Oireachtas Members. The programme for Government contains a number of commitments to improve the way parliamentary questions, Adjournment debates, and so on, are dealt with. I expect that these initiatives will be progressed across all Departments in due course.
Since taking up office, the Minister has decided that parliamentary questions relating to operational issues of national scale or importance will be answered by him or the relevant Minister of State rather than being referred to the HSE. Whenever possible, these questions will be answered on the relevant sitting day. Where this is not possible because the information is not readily available, a reply will be issued as soon as possible thereafter. The Minister made it clear that he has ultimate accountability for the health services. However, this does not mean local service managers can abrogate their responsibility and accountability for local operational matters. Deputies will appreciate, therefore, that a balance has to be struck between local responsibility and the Minister's ultimate accountability.
With regard to Kenmare Community Hospital, a tender process has been conducted by the HSE and planning permission received. Contracts have not yet been signed with the successful bidder. Capital developments such as the proposed community nursing unit at Kenmare, County Kerry, must be considered in the context of the overall HSE capital plan. This is a multi-annual programme which is developed over a rolling five-year period. In drawing up its capital programme for the current 2011-2015 period, the HSE is required to prioritise capital infrastructure projects within the overall capital funding allocation.
Given the contractual commitments in place, limited funding will be available for new contracts before 2014. The HSE has submitted its draft capital plan for the period 2011-2015. It is essential to assess all projects on their merits, other than those where existing contractual commitments are in place, to ensure the limited capital funding available goes to developments of the highest national importance. This draft plan is under consideration and requires the approval of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, together with the consent of the Minister for Finance. Details of the plan will be published by the HSE following its approval.