Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Cullinane for raising this issue as it provides me with an opportunity to update the House on the matter and to outline the background to the current situation and the action taken by the Health Service Executive.

As the Senator is aware, Government policy is to support older people to live with dignity and independence in their own homes and communities for as long as possible. Where this is not feasible, the health service supports access to quality long-term residential care where this is appropriate. The HSE continues to develop and improve health services in all regions, ensuring quality and patient safety.

The Health Service Executive has operational responsibility for the delivery of health and social services, including those at facilities such as St. Patrick's Hospital, Waterford. St. Patrick's Hospital is a Health Service Executive residential facility for older people in Waterford City. It has 96 beds, consisting of 72 continuing care beds, 20 rehabilitation and four respite beds. The residential services are located on the ground floor and consist of three wards, St. Patrick's ward, St. Malachy's ward and Our Lady's ward. During the year St. Patrick's operates with a small number of vacancies, which vary from day to day. Concerns had been expressed with regard to health and fire safety at St. Brigid's, a 19-bed ward, which was the last remaining ward on an upper floor of St. Patrick's Hospital, Waterford. As a consequence of these concerns, the HSE decided that it was no longer viable to continue to accommodate residents in the ward and it was closed on a phased basis in 2009. The primary focus of the decision was the care and welfare of each resident.

I am sure the House will agree that the safety and well-being of older people is of critical concern. Quality care and patient safety come first and all patients must receive the same high standard of quality-assured care. Patient safety is everyone's concern and I reassure the House that the decision to close St. Brigid's ward was taken with this in mind. In view of the closure of St. Brigid's ward, the HSE took steps during 2009 to ensure that there was no reduction in the number of public beds to support older people in Waterford City. Arrangements were made for a total of 30 private nursing home beds to be made available. This was prior to the commencement of the nursing homes support scheme.

At the time of the closure of St. Brigid's ward, the HSE indicated that it would examine the provision of a 50-bed community nursing unit, CNU, in the grounds of the hospital. Such a construction project would require capital funding and the HSE must prioritise all capital infrastructure projects nationally within its overall capital funding allocation.

The Prospectus report, which was prepared for the HSE in 2008, assessed the provision of nursing home places across the country and the need for additional places to meet demographic change. The report found that there were sufficient places in Waterford at that time and additional places would not be needed before 2013. The Department is currently engaged with the HSE in planning the provision of long-term care places, taking account of public and private nursing home provision. This will give further consideration to the Prospectus report recommendations and the requirements to upgrade facilities to meet the standards for nursing homes. It will also consider local demographic pressures and the extent of existing public and private provision, with a view to developing an overall strategy on how the HSE should continue to provide this service in view of current budgetary and other pressures. The House will appreciate that such reviews are essential to ensuring that resources are properly channelled and that the changing needs of older people are suitably addressed. The future provision of long term residential services for the Waterford area in general will be considered in the context of this review.