Eamon Scanlon (Fianna Fail)

I am glad to have the opportunity to comment on accident and emergency services, particularly in my home county of Sligo. I am sorry to have missed the full debate. I understand that the problems facing Sligo General Hospital are not as serious as those facing major hospitals in Dublin. I welcome the fact that changes are being introduced by the HSE and that the executive is developing specific time-based targets in respect of accident and emergency services and delayed discharges. One of the most significant complaints people have is the length of time they must wait to be examined. Even in Sligo General Hospital, a person can sometimes be lucky enough to be seen and discharged within two hours, but, at other times, he or she can be forced to wait between six and ten hours. It depends on the number of people presenting for treatment and the seriousness of their complaints. I am referring to people who come to accident and emergency departments with letters from their doctors. I have heard of widely varying cases.

I wish to put on record my appreciation of the work done by staff in accident and emergency departments. In June 2005, as I drove into Sligo, my sister telephoned me to tell me that her good friend and neighbour, who was a widowed grandmother, was involved in a head-on collision with another car as she drove her three young grandchildren home from the seaside. The first reports were very serious. The road was blocked and three ambulances were called to the scene. The three children, who were aged eight, ten and 12 years of age, were rushed to the hospital and their grandmother was also seriously injured. I rushed to the hospital to see if I could be of any assistance because the injured people were very close friends of mine.

I could not praise the accident and emergency staff at that hospital highly enough. It brought home to me the fact that these people work at the coalface. They do not know what kind of problems, such as serious road accidents, they will face. I was struck by the way in which the staff at the hospital helped the family, all of whom have thankfully recovered. One of the injured children was transported to a hospital in Dublin, while another child was transported to Galway. The grandmother made a full recovery. Nobody fully understands or appreciates the work carried out by accident and emergency staff, their commitment and the service they provide. I refer to both nursing and administrative staff. The administrative staff could not have been more helpful when the father of the injured children arrived at the hospital. The work carried out by accident and emergency staff is unbelievable and no amount of money could adequately compensate it.

The issue of bed shortages was debated at our group meeting. I was a member of the North Western Health Board a number of years ago during which time the board ran a pilot scheme involving caring for elderly people at home. A subvention was provided to elderly people to allow them to pay someone to care for them in their own homes. We should possibly examine such a scheme because it would relieve bed shortages. I understand that the problem in accident and emergency departments in Dublin is caused by the fact that people currently occupying beds could go home if they had someone to look after them. Elderly people wish to be cared for in their own homes and we should do everything in our power to ensure that this can happen.

People cannot afford nursing home care because it is expensive. I am aware that the Government spends a considerable amount on nursing home subventions. This money should be directed more towards care in the home and a subvention large enough to make it worthwhile for an elderly person to employ someone to care for himself or herself and ensure that he or she can remain at home should be introduced.