Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Chathaoirleach. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach seo inniu. The Minister of State is very welcome to the House and I thank her for her attendance. I will address the issue of the closure of the Sacred Heart unit in Dungarvan Community Hospital. The unit provides vital rehabilitation for patients suffering as a result of strokes or other serious accidents. It is regrettable the decision was taken on a Friday of a bank holiday weekend. It was underhanded and mean. It placed the patients and families affected in a very stressful situation of not knowing where they were going to go and when they were going to go. The reason given was the HSE is finding it difficult to recruit nursing staff. Surely the Minister of State will agree somebody in the HSE should have seen this particular problem coming down the tracks so it would not have had to take such a knee-jerk decision on a Friday of a bank holiday weekend. It is very clear the terms and conditions of nurses are not good enough. My colleague, Senator Swanick, with whom I will share my time, with the permission of the Acting Chairman, will go into more detail on that. It is having a serious effect on the health service. A bigger effort needs to be made to try to give better terms and conditions to nurses. We are educating our nurses and as soon as they are qualified they are going abroad because there are better terms and conditions on offer to them.

I will ask two questions before I let my colleague in. The HSE has made a commitment to reopen this particular unit when it recruits sufficient staff to do so. Is there a timeframe for that? I have spoken to a number of people who were thinking about coming home from the UK to take up a post in Ireland but they have to go through a procedure of applying for a PIN. We understand they could be waiting six months in order to get that PIN, which seems crazy. Will the Minister of State look into that?

Keith Swanick (Fianna Fail)
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I will be very brief. I thank my colleague, Senator Gallagher, for allowing me to share his time on this very important issue. The closure of the Sacred Heart unit in Dungarvan is absolutely devastating to the community and will send shivers down the spines of other community hospitals which are experiencing the same issues with recruitment. Most hospitals are only a couple of staff away from ward closures. As a director of Belmullet hospital, I am too aware of it. I also concur with my colleague's sentiments that the closure was underhanded in the manner in which it was executed over a bank holiday weekend in an attempt to bury the story. At the very end of last year, the Minister for Health said he had no magic wand to recruit more nurses into the health service. He also said he was satisfied with the package on offer to graduate nurses and that many nurses are returning here to be closer to family and friends. This is in direct contrast to what the INMO reported only a few weeks ago. The organisation undertook surveys of all nursing and midwifery students on the final leg of their degree to examine whether they would seek employment upon qualification in September 2017. It found that 78% of respondents are considering emigrating and 70% have already been approached by overseas recruitment agencies. That is compared to 29% who had been offered permanent positions in the Irish public health service at that time. Surely all of the students who are in their final 36-week placement should be offered competitive, permanent contracts to be entered into following successful graduation of their course. The people of Dungarvan are now without 16 vital beds, which provided much needed rehabilitation, respite and step-down care and undoubtedly alleviated some of the pressure on the struggling University Hospital Waterford.

Community hospitals facilitate discharges from university hospitals and prevent admissions to university hospitals. Another important aspect of the community hospital is that it acts as an interface between the fair deal system and the university hospital. If a loved one is waiting for the fair deal scheme in a university hospital, he or she can be transferred to a community hospital for the intervening period before being transferred to a nursing home. This is another vital element. I ask the Minister of State to review these closures as a matter of priority.

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this important matter and I thank Senator Swanick for his contribution. The overarching policy of the Government is to support older people to live in dignity and independence in their homes and communities for as long as possible. This is clearly what older people want but we also have patients who are in genuine need of residential care either on a long-stay or short-stay basis.

The Health Service Executive is responsible for the delivery of health and personal social services, including those at facilities such as Dungarvan Community Hospital. The hospital provides long-stay residential, respite, palliative care and rehabilitation services for older people.

As with the health service in general, Dungarvan Community Hospital is experiencing significant challenges with recruiting and retaining nursing staff, which the Senator acknowledged. Dungarvan has 16 whole-time equivalent vacancies, eight of which are required for the Sacred Heart ward.While there have been several national recruitment campaigns for nurses, unfortunately, a serious challenge has arisen in recruiting nurses to fill vacancies in Dungarvan. As a result, to maintain the delivery of safe and high-quality services, the Health Service Executive, HSE, has decided to move residents internally from the Sacred Heart ward to alternative accommodation in the hospital. This is a temporary measure and staff will be re-organised to optimise patient safety. Long-stay and short-stay care, including palliative and dementia care, all continue to be provided.

I understand, as does the HSE, this decision has caused a great deal of upset for residents, families and the local community. I hope further clarity has been and will continue to be brought to the situation by the HSE. The HSE has assured me patient welfare is a priority for staff and management and expressed its deep appreciation of the support the hospital receives from families, as well as the wider community.

The HSE acknowledges the concerns expressed on this subject in recent days and apologises to residents and their families for any inconvenience. It will work to ensure minimum disruption to normal services during this interim arrangement. It is important to note there is no negative impact on existing staffing numbers while this interim safety arrangement is in place.

The HSE has ongoing opportunities for nurses. Advertisements remain live on the HSE website. In recent days, the HSE issued an appeal for any registered nurses available for work, whether on a full or part-time basis, to contact it. Specifically for Dungarvan, all inquiries, including from nurses who are retired or not currently serving, may be directed to the HSE’s manager for older person services for Waterford. The HSE has given an assurance all applications will be processed without delay.

Representatives of hospital management continue to be available at all times to residents and their families to discuss any matter of concern to them. They will work closely with staff representatives to bring the hospital back to full operating capacity. The HSE met families on 3 May and a further meeting is scheduled for June. The Department will monitor this situation carefully. I have asked the HSE to keep me updated on progress. I will bring the specific points made about recruitment to the attention of the relevant people.

Keith Swanick (Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge the temporary measure of this arrangement. However, as the Minister of State will accept from my experience working in medicine, when hospital beds are closed temporarily, they tend not to open again. I also acknowledge the measure was introduced for patient safety arrangements.

Can the Minister of State put a timeline on this? How long will it take for these beds to re-open? Will she suggest to the HSE to conduct monthly reviews of the administration in the hospital and staff recruitment? Local public representatives and patients are concerned about the current situation there.

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The HSE has advised me that it is its intention to re-open the ward. To give a timeline would be difficult, however, because it depends on the recruitment of nurses. As soon as the recruitment process is concluded, we can look forward to it being re-opened.

I will bring the Senator’s suggestion about monthly reviews to the attention of the relevant people.