Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of the consequences of patients in hospital beds being unable to transfer to nursing homes.

One of the reasons for this is not the most obvious one that the fair deal scheme is delayed by 11 weeks, which is also a factor, but the fact that general practitioners, GPs, in areas that have nursing homes are limited by the number of medical card holders they can have on their list. They are unable to take on new patients who have medical cards because it would exceed their prescribed number. I am aware of one instance where the nursing home cannot fill its beds, the GPs the patients currently have are too far away from the location and the local GP is unable to take the patients onto their list. What is happening, in effect, is that beds in hospitals are being tied up, the nursing homes are not doing the job they should be doing and the patients are caught in the middle. This must be brought to the attention of the Minister for Health. It makes no sense. I am aware the crisis has abated a little but we still have trolley watch on a daily basis and there are still many people on trolleys at night, including in my local hospital in south Tipperary.

With the use of a little common sense there is an opportunity in the situation I have outlined. GPs could be allowed to take on extra people on their lists, which means the people who are in hospital beds can move to the nursing homes in the relevant areas, free up the hospital beds and decrease the number of people on trolleys in hospitals. I ask the Leader to bring this to the attention of the Minister for Health. It is not the full solution but it is certainly part of the solution to the problem of people on trolleys in hospitals.