Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, for being here to take this Commencement Matter. The Dáil constituency of Dublin South Central is my home constituency. It has a population of nearly 136,000 people, according to the most recent census. When those constituents were asked their views regarding their state of health, fewer than the national average reported being in good health and more than the national average reported their health as being only "fair". The usual categories synonymous with increased hardship and financial challenge are shown across the board in Dublin South Central, whether that is one-parent families, renters in local authority properties or the private rental sector and lower-paid employment categories. The constituency repeatedly shows figures below average in categories that tend to imply financial advantage, such as the numbers of professionals employed. As a consequence, there is a greater likelihood of reliance on public health in the area and, as such, it is essential that primary care centres are working to their optimal capacity.

The former Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and his predecessors built primary care centres in the heart of this community. There are such centres in Ballyfermot, Crumlin and Inchicore and at the old Meath hospital in Rialto. These were put in place both through good and bad financial economic times and it is acknowledged that they have been a vital resource to the community in terms of promoting healthcare, quick access to diagnosis and care in the community. There should be a sixth primary care centre in the constituency, that being the Drimnagh primary care centre. It was announced by the predecessor of the Minister of State, former Deputy Catherine Byrne, and the former Minister, Deputy Harris, in November 2019, with a view, albeit in a pre-Covid world, to there being sufficient movement and delivery of that in 2020 and 2021. It should be ongoing at present. I take this opportunity to press on the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, the importance of delivering that primary care centre for the people of Drimnagh who have been waiting for it for a long time.I ask the Minister of State to make that a priority in the post-Covid actions.

I fully acknowledge that we are in the midst of the most difficult crisis for our country. Throughout the crisis we have seen extraordinary work on the part of our healthcare professionals and the administrative staff within the HSE. We know that the administrative staff have been redeployed to carry out contact tracing. Some nursing staff were redeployed for swabbing and testing. Others have been part of what is colloquially termed the nursing hit squad. They have been redeployed into private nursing home facilities where severe staff shortages are exhibited. They do that repeatedly, moving from crisis to crisis, to support the care of patients. They are extraordinary workers and, as a nation, we are extraordinarily indebted to them.

We know that our population is experiencing hesitancy in coming forward when they have symptoms, fearful of getting Covid, and that the delays in the identification of illnesses may be fatal where an opportunity for early detection in diseases such as cancer may be lost. I am also conscious that the schools vaccination programme has been moved into the GP primary care setting due to its obvious inability to be delivered within the schools when the children are not there. This has a knock-on effect of children not accessing the vaccination programme for various reasons, including Covid fears when going out, lack of knowledge or information and delays due to redeployments. I am hearing complaints of a lack of access to physiotherapy and delays in speech and occupational therapy referrals and services. Of very serious concern to me are reports of delays in accessing the mental health teams.

I am concerned to know how the primary care centres are operating in Dublin South-Central in particular, how they are impacted by the redeployments and what mitigating factors are being put in place to ensure healthcare services for the population and those who so rely on them. I am mindful that next week we will see the commencement of the over-70s vaccination programme. That will be a great boost to the population at large. There are nearly 16,500 people over the age of 70 in Dublin South-Central, so I am anxious to ensure that that will be a smooth roll-out and will not be affected by any redeployments. I thank the Minister of State for his time and I look forward to his reply.