Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Four weeks ago I raised the plight of long-term patients in hospital who are waiting to get home and the fact they are allowed no visitors. I thank the Leader for writing a letter to the Minister for Health. I followed up on the issue with him in the meantime, asking that long-term patients in hospital should be afforded the same visiting rights as those who are in nursing home care. There is no reason they would not be allowed at least one visit a week. I received a very distressed email last night from a relative who had seen his uncle for all of a couple of minutes in the past week. When he went in to see him, his hair was long and his nails were long. The family asked if they could get a niece in to cut his hair and his nails but they were told they could not. A staff member pulled them aside on the way out to say that if they handed in a nail clippers they would look after him. Things like that should not happen. If relatives were allowed in to visit their elderly or vulnerable family members with early dementia, they could cater for things like that themselves. They could oversee the care. I contacted the hospital in question but the situation is not unique to the hospital. It is the case across the country.

Now that all the people in hospitals are vaccinated there is no reason for such a disproportionate restriction on visiting rights. I call on the Leader for a debate. We have debated women needing their partners with them for the entirety of labour. This is the next cohort of patients who deserve to be addressed and that must happen as a matter of urgency. I call for a debate in this House with the Minister for Health so that we urge the loosening of the restrictions.