Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, for coming before the House. This Commencement matter follows on from an issue I raised last week in the health committee with the Minister for Health and the HSE. It came to my notice that 15 beds in St. John's Hospital in Limerick were not in use for the past three months, which is unacceptable. I will qualify that by saying I fully understand the considerable difficulties faced by staff, including consultants, other medical staff and administrative staff, throughout the hospital but more particularly in University Hospital Limerick, UHL, in managing a situation whereby we are playing catch-up with reconfiguration. The 24-hour emergency departments, EDs, at Ennis Hospital, Nenagh Hospital and St. John's Hospital were closed, and 138 co-location beds were supposed to be built on the grounds of UHL before the reconfiguration went through. It should not have gone through. We are playing catch-up. What we now need is the 60-bed block under construction on the site of UHL. A 96-bed block will go into the planning phase early in the new year. This will provide more than 150 beds. That will take time. The 60 beds will be in place by next September, but we must all work together. No one, management or anyone else, told me these 15 beds were idle and not in use. Two long-standing consultants retired in St. John's Hospital over the past year. If we are operating in the dark and we do not know what is happening within the hospital group, it is impossible for someone like me, a public representative in Limerick, to assist fully at national level. If I were aware that 15 beds, for whatever lack of resources, could not be opened, I would have been at the desks of the Minister and the Minister of State and would have beaten down the door to get the funding in place. I will put Limerick ahead of everything else but I did not know about this.

I am glad funding is being provided under the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, to open the beds in St. John's. I want them open quickly. Furthermore, I want a comprehensive bed management plan put in place to ensure the beds are put to maximum use in UHL, St. John's, Ennis, Nenagh and Croom. It is important that everyone works together on this. This is not in any way a criticism on my part of anything to do with the medical profession - the consultants, the nurses or anyone else. I want to help but I do not know what the position in the hospitals is. There are 15 beds not in use. Why was this the case? How can I assist? I want to know now whether a comprehensive bed management plan is in place to provide the resources. If the university hospital group needs resources, the Department should ask for them and tell us it has done so. Funding for the second MRI scanner was provided when asked for, but when I asked for i tat the health committee, there were 15 beds at the same time not in use in St. John's. I did not know that at the time. If I had, I would have looked for funding there as well.The situation with the 15 beds does not concern me if they are not open but the Minister of State should tell me what is required to be done in terms of resources. I will go to the appropriate Minister and the Government to fight for those resources for Limerick. There has been a major capacity crisis in Limerick for a number of years.

I would like to see an audit of the nursing home beds in Limerick and its regions to ensure they are put to most efficient use. If funding is required, it should be provided. Funding will come through the NTPF for an additional ten nursing beds. That has been approved. The minor injury clinics in Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Hospitals must have longer opening hours and we need to see the second MRI scanner for Limerick hospital in operation straight away. We all need to work together to ensure we deal with the crisis facing patients in Limerick. That includes Ministers, management in the hospital group, consultants, nurses and administrators. I will take whatever criticism put at our door but I am there to help. If I do not know beds are unoccupied, how in the name of God can I help?

Have detailed discussions taken place to ensure there is a comprehensive bed management strategy in place and we can all work together, including medical, ministerial, administrative and management staff? We must ensure we can get through this crisis and get the 150 extra beds that should have been put in place.