Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. There comes a time when the official line does not always tally with what is happening in the broader community and society. This is an occasion where we have to address an underlying problem. The withdrawal of Versatis patches has left many people with pain thresholds they can no longer tolerate. There is no doubt there has been a huge escalation in the prescribing of the patches and in the demands on the budget. At the same time, we have to accept many people claim this has had a major impact on their lives because of their ability to deal with pain.

Some of the longest waiting lists in the country include long waits in the area of neurological illnesses and diseases. I refer to waiting for outpatient and inpatient appointments with neurological consultants and neurosurgeons. A huge number of people need these patches to function on a daily basis because they are waiting for a long time to see consultants or to get treatment for a neurological condition. If waiting lists and waiting times were addressed, it might save the money we seem to be worried about.

However, we now have a situation where these patches have been withdrawn from the drug payment scheme and where there is a change in what they can be prescribed for. When a huge cohort of people are highlighting something on "Liveline" and in many other fora and are contacting politicians' offices, it is evident the change is having a profound impact on people’s lives. Officially the HSE said the medication, Versatis, has not been withdrawn. However, since last September, a second layer of approval has been in place for GPs who want to continue prescribe it beyond three months.It has been estimated that up to 25,000 people were on Versatis patches. The Government has, by reducing the number of patches available by 90%, also reduced the cost by 90%. That shows the Government would rather save money than enhance people's lives. The Government has taken a vital medicine away from 90% of its users for whom it was essential on a daily basis. These people suffer chronic pain and the action taken by the Government is equivalent to shutting down an emergency department for each sufferer across the country.

We ask the Government and the Minister for Health to intervene and suspend the decision taken by the HSE. We ask the Government and the Minister to put the patient at the centre of the issue rather than on the periphery, as has been the case to date. We ask them to carry out due diligence and enable people to get their lives back together again, to live meaningful lives and to live as they had done while using the patches. The Taoiseach claims the decision is about patient safety but I believe it is a blatant cost-cutting measure. The briefing note that the HSE sent to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health also lists the costs involved if there is a significant increase in the number of patients using the medicine. The sudden, overnight nature of this decision was appalling and visited untold trauma on people. Dr. John Goddard, a researcher in Sheffield, has published an article in a medical journal called Pain Medicine. In his article he identified that there was a 70% effective rate for juveniles who use Versatis patches. The casual, arbitrary, sudden and overnight nature of the HSE's decision on Versatis was appalling and it was not about patient safety.