Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. I have spoken with the Minister for Health this morning and I appreciate that he is before the Oireachtas Select Committee on Health to discuss the Estimates. In recent days I have received an awful lot of emails relevant to the matter I am raising and I am grateful to the Cathaoirleach for choosing it for discussion. It is the provision of community neurorehabilitation teams.

If we go back to the 2019 implementation framework on a national strategy and policy for the provision of neurorehabilitation services in Ireland, integral to it is the provision of inpatient and community-based neurorehabilitation services. To put everyday language on this, neurorehabilitation is designed for people with diseases, injuries and disorders of the nervous system. These can be acquired injuries, for instance, arising from stroke or an acquired brain injury. It can also be for people with multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease.

We can see that having a team keeps people at home for as long as possible if they have a progressive disease or illness that will bring them to being less able. Having a community team is essential for this purpose. When people are in hospital following a stroke or because of an acquired brain injury, the community team is the link that enables them to come home. In every way it makes much more sense to have community neural rehabilitation teams.

I am specifically asking about community healthcare organisation, CHO, 7 because it is my area. It includes the constituency of Dublin South-Central. Part of the implementation framework was to have a team in every CHO district throughout the country. My understanding, on which I seek clarification from the Minister of State, is that only two of the nine teams have been delivered. I would value an update on this. We must ensure we have a plan or a timeline.What are the impediments stopping this from happening? It is important. Having the teams in place makes sense. One of the people who wrote to me made the point that for every €1 spent on these teams, the health service saves €11. The evident need for beds in hospitals is all the more reason to have a community-based service that provides supports in a person's home. That is important.

As regards the national strategy, I refer to recent advocacy and presentations relating to having neurological nurses at the likes of St. James's Hospital. There was only one such nurse there at one stage. The situation elsewhere may be similar. The inpatient service is not being provided to the extent required and neither is the community-based service and, as a consequence of that, people are spending far longer in hospital than required or are going into hospital earlier than necessary. Those people could be supported in the familiar surroundings of their own homes. In cases involving an impediment that may be growing, as may arise with multiple sclerosis, and the fears and everything else that come with that, having that support in one's own home is essential. I look forward to hearing what the Minister of State has to say.