Seanad debates

Thursday, 11 March 2010

11:00 am

Photo of John Paul PhelanJohn Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

She single-handedly pushed it politically. Three or four extra levels of national management were created for the health service, on top of what already was in place at regional level. That is what the Minister is responsible for. Ministers should not he held accountable for every minor detail that goes wrong in their Departments but too much has gone wrong in the Department of Health and Children. Look at what happened in the hospital in Portlaoise and other hospitals. Now we are being told about what went wrong in Tallaght hospital. I do not expect the Minister to be in the hospital opening envelopes and looking at individual X-rays but there must be some level of accountability.

Public representatives cannot get answers to questions about the HSE. We are told the Minister does not have a role in the executive. We must, therefore, have a debate in this Chamber, as the Minister has political responsibility. She knew about this problem in November but she has pretty much sat on her hands since. There is a legitimate political question for her to answer.

Senator O'Reilly mentioned the role of HIQA with regard to private nursing homes. I raise the issue of public care homes which are not nursing homes. HIQA proposes to impose standards on these homes similar to the ones applied to nursing homes which provide 24-hour nursing care. The people who live in care homes are usually elderly and single who do not need 24-hour nursing care. The HIQA proposals could lead to the closing of these homes. Last year Senator Norris and I highlighted a scandal in Bethany House in Carlow. The same will happen throughout the country with assisted care homes being closed by HIQA. This is completely unacceptable.

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