John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment and I am glad the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, is in the Chamber to respond to it. I do not doubt her commitment, passion and common-sense approach to care of the elderly. Many groups such as Older and Bolder share my opinion of her, even though they are concerned and fearful about what is happening in the sector.

One year ago this week the HSE unilaterally announced the immediate closure of dozens of community nursing homes. It also circulated a list of 64 nursing homes earmarked for closure or drastic rationalisation, which put the fear of God into many communities.

Abbeyleix community nursing home and Shaen community nursing home in Portlaoise - two of the three remaining community nursing homes in County Laois - were on the list. Before the Minister of State took up her post, her predecessor had presided over the closure of 20 beds in St. Joseph's Ward in Mountmellick. The beds in question remain closed. If the HSE decision had been implemented unchecked - the Minister of State played a key role in intervening and having it referred back for review and policy consideration - we would have been left with just one community nursing home in County Laois. One of the biggest wards in the nursing home in Mountmellick has been closed and mothballed. Like the patients, families, staff who have been affected by the closures, I am most grateful to the Minister of State for taking the time to visit Shaen community nursing home in Portlaoise and Abbeyleix community nursing home. I know she was impressed with the quality of care she saw at first hand when she called unannounced to the homes in question. It was a genuine visit. There were no airs and graces following her arrival.

I am sorry to report to the House the sad news that two of the three elderly ladies who had showed great courage and guts by taking a High Court action against the HSE this time last year, Mrs. Maureen Delaney and Mrs. Catherine Kelly, passed away in recent weeks. This has caused no shortage of distress in the community. The third lady, Mrs. Bridget O'Neill, remains hale and hearty. She is a strong and robust woman. Does the Department of Health intend to smoke out the entire community and wait until there is no one left? One year on, we do not know what the outcome of the review is and we are not clear on the policy the Department is pursuing because it seems to be at odds with Government policy as set out in the programme for Government. In the last week I was shocked to learn in response to a parliamentary question in the Dáil that the HSE had presided over the closure of 1,200 further nursing home beds around the country. Essentially, it is closing hospitals down by stealth. If it has its way, it will leave us totally at the mercy of private nursing homes. I have no ideological problem with private nursing homes. Many of them are very good. However, those involved in such homes will admit that they are unable to, incapable of and unwilling to care for high dependency patients such as those with severe Alzheimer's disease and dementia who are cared for in Shaen community nursing home.

I hope the Minister of State can shed some light on what exactly is happening in this sector. What is the policy of the Government on this matter? What is the future of Abbeyleix community nursing home and Shaen community nursing home?