John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the Minister of State's informative response which includes some good and interesting detail. She has pointed out that the review was concluded on 16 August. Her suggestion that a recommendation is expected "presently" is a little vague for people from where I come. What does "presently" mean? How long is a piece of string? I would like to receive some indication of what is meant by "presently". It is causing undue distress and anxiety for elderly people, including some who are in their 90s, in the run-up to Christmas. A year has passed since the original proposal was made. As the Minister of State said, the Abbeyleix unit is registered with the Health Information and Quality Authority. It is able to cater for and cope with 33 clients, but it has just 22. It is not being utilised to its full advantage, which is not serving anyone well. Perhaps those beds might be used to care for people who are in acute beds in hospitals but do not need to be. If these resources are not being used properly, they are costing the Department of Health more money than is necessary. The unit is not operating at maximum capacity. I am glad to hear that the buck will stop with the Minister who will have the final say on the matter after the recommendation is made. It would not make sense to leave the region without sufficient community nursing home beds. The people of the area would be totally at the behest of the private sector. I reiterate that the private sector does not want to cater for high dependency patients and does not have the capacity to meet the growing demand for geriatric beds, of which I have strong evidence.