Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Winter is always an extraordinarily difficult time in our health service, whether one is a healthcare worker, a patient or one who is anxious about a loved one in hospital. My party colleague, Deputy Kelly, raised the issue of the flu vaccine in the Dáil. We are seeking an update on that issue because there is serious concern among general practitioners and many other sectors of society. Pharmacies are advertising the flu vaccine online but when one fills out the form, one realises that one cannot get the vaccine. We have been told that pharmacies should be receiving the vaccines in advance of the winter season. What is the position regarding the volume of vaccine we will be getting? It was flagged quite early that there were concerns around the volume of vaccine and that we needed to ensure we had a supply coming in. Where are we at with regard to the supply of the vaccine and how will it be distributed to healthcare professionals? Over what timespan will we have the vaccine this year? We are obviously up against a deadline given the crisis in terms of non-Covid and Covid healthcare.

The Labour Party has been raising the issue of Covid healthcare taking priority over non-Covid healthcare for many months. I have deep concerns on this issue, especially after speaking to people working at various levels of the HSE in the past two weeks. All Members have heard of the issues with the volume of people who may not be diagnosed this year. The situation is worrying because the longer a person's illness remains undiagnosed, the less chance that person has of survival, particularly in the case of those with seriously acute conditions.

The winter plan makes certain commitments on beds. The Government has been trumpeting that there will be 1,500 new beds, but 409 of the 830 new acute beds , 45 of the 62 new critical care beds and 395 of the 484 new sub-acute beds are already in place. In reality, there will be 89 new sub-acute beds in the run-in to a winter when we will grapple with the Covid-19 crisis in addition to the usual acute care demands. That is a little less than reassuring.

Of course, the number of beds is not the sum total of this equation. The other key component is staff. It is all well and good to promise extra beds and, goodness knows, we need them, but it is an entirely pointless exercise unless safe staffing is in place. There are ambitious plans for recruitment and health, with more than 12,500 staff to be recruited, including 5,000 before Christmas and 7,500 afterwards. From where are those staff going to come? Ms Phil Ní Sheaghda of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Association has pointed out that some nurses who came home from abroad have been unable to get full-time jobs. What is going to radically change? How will this work? Where will we get the consultants we require? From where will all these staff come? How will the Government deliver on this commitment? Where will the staff be placed?

I wish to briefly mention the issue of student healthcare professionals, many of whom are working without pay. I know of at least one student nurse who is working on a Covid ward as part of her placement but is not getting paid and is unable to take up paid work in another setting due to concerns about cross-contamination. That situation is extremely disheartening for student nurses, who are front-line healthcare workers. Those students and unpaid workers cannot eat the candles placed in windows or survive on the public clapping for them. This issue is of deep concern for those student nurses.

We need an update on cancer screening. The drop in the number of cancer screening tests since March will have a profound effect. This week, I was briefed by the Irish Cancer Society on the drop-off in services for breast cancer patients. As Members are aware, October is breast cancer awareness month. With regard to Breastcheck, we know its services are not resuming in the way it was indicated they would. The Irish Cancer Society is concerned that there are 600 people with undiagnosed cancer. They do not know they have cancer and are unable to start treatment because of the drop-off and delay in services.

I ask the Minister of State to explain the slightly baffling decision to move from an interval of two years to an interval of three years in the context of mammograms. If an interval of two years was previously the standard, I would like to know the new medical evidence indicating that an interval of three years should be the new standard. I do not think Covid-19 is an acceptable reason for that decision. I wish to know why the interval between screenings has changed. Nobody has explained the reason for that decision or why we were using an interval of two years in the first place if there was a different standard. I ask the Minister of State to outline the position in that regard.

On CervicalCheck, some 6,000 letters have gone out but there has not been sufficient uptake, which is a real concern. The low level of uptake needs to be tackled because otherwise there will be severe consequences down the line. We know there are an extra 50,000 people on waiting lists because of Covid. Never before in the history of the State have there been so many people on hospital waiting lists. Frankly, unless the Government takes action, this issue will spiral further out of control. It is clear from these figures that the reopening plan for non-Covid healthcare is inadequate and needs to be significantly beefed up. What will be done to tackle the waiting lists and ensure no further delays are faced?