Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

This debate is timely and I pay tribute to the staff of the HSE, who do a wonderful job on our behalf. Responsibility and accountability in the delivery of services are needed in the health service.

I welcome the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, to the House. I admire her conviction as a politician, but I do not agree with her philosophy regarding the HSE or with its creation, as it is a failed entity. There is no accountability or meaningful strategy. If the HSE is as good and everything is as rosy in the garden as Members opposite have stated, why does Paul O'Brien write in today's Irish Examiner about how the "Health Service Executive exceeded its sanctioned budget and spent almost €11 million more on information and communications technology last year than the Government had permitted"? This does not inspire confidence.

In the southern region, there are cutbacks and a recruitment freeze. I say this as someone who is a former member of the Regional Health Forum, has worked in the health service and is involved with disability groups. Last Friday, I attended the opening of the new maternity unit of University College Hospital, Cork with the Minister. Professor Drumm was right when he stated we should celebrate what is good in the health service. I salute the staff of the maternity unit as they played a pivotal role in its opening, but we should acknowledge that morale is low among frontline staff, ask why that is the case and read the transcripts of last weekend's special conference of the INO in Tralee.

I have read a memo from a member of staff in the HSE, southern region. I will paint a little picture. Imagine a night sister or night nurse in UCHC. He or she goes to work and is met by his or her nurse manager, who says the room temperature is one degree too high according to memo specifications. This is what is happening.

Is it correct that day wards are being closed a week early for Christmas? Is it the case that agency staff cannot be employed to replace existing staff? If our health service has become so cash-rich, why has the HSE frozen recruitment at this point in the financial year? The cutbacks and recruitment freeze are affecting the vulnerable and weak. These patients and their families, along with the front-line staff, are the victims. The result will be longer waits for patients in accident and emergency departments, longer waiting times for outpatient appointments and elective treatments, and cancellations of elective surgery.

I accept Professor Drumm's argument that the HSE's budget must be balanced. Why is it, however, that efforts are being made in this regard on one level while bonuses are simultaneously being awarded to HSE managers? I ask the Minister to sanction an audit of how the HSE operates. Staff numbers have more than doubled since the establishment of the HSE, as indicated in the Government amendment. However, the purpose of the new executive structure was to facilitate an improvement in patient care. This has not been achieved.

I ask the Minister to examine whether the HSE's management structure can be altered to include fewer levels of management and to ensure a greater emphasis on delivering front-line services. Somebody must accept that mistakes have been made in the years since the HSE was established. We cannot expect patients to pay the price. The staff of the HSE, at all levels, do a great job. They require our support and leadership.