Maura Hopkins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A parent, whose child is on a list for rehabilitation at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire, has brought to my attention that 12 beds have been closed at that hospital. I have followed that up with the office of the chief executive and received the following reply:

Following consultation with the HSE, it has been necessary for the NRH to reduce its existing bed capacity by 8 beds in the Brain Injury Programme, and 4 beds in the Spinal Cord Injury Programme, to enable the hospital to provide a safe and appropriate level of care to patients from within existing resources. In January 2016, a detailed workforce planning document was submitted to the HSE for the additional staffing required to ensure that NRH beds, given their scarcity, should be fully available at all times. This submission is still under consideration by the HSE.

Closing 12 existing beds out of 120 beds, 10%, is simply not acceptable. It is soul destroying for the parent, child and the family, as well as for people across the country who have to wait months for a bed in the NRH and during that time occupy an acute bed in a general hospital. Given the trauma of an injury, be that a stroke, a spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease, these people need access to timely and specialist rehabilitation. Confirmation that bed capacity has been reduced by 12 beds is simply not acceptable. I wrote to the Minister, Deputy Harris, last night. I asked him and I am asking the Leader now to ensure that the HSE deals with this issue immediately. It is simply not good enough.