I would like to convey to the office of the Ceann Comhairle my sincere thanks for allowing me the opportunity this afternoon to raise this matter. The Regional Hospital in Tralee was recently constructed to cater for 425 beds, following a careful and intensive assessment of the hospital needs of the County Kerry region of the Southern Health Board. As of now there are 70 beds still vacant. The current cutback, which resulted in the total closure of a ward, will impact very seriously over a number of weeks until its reopening on the medical and surgical treatment of patients in County Kerry.
Recently consultants took the unusual step of inviting all the public representatives in Kerry to meet them to give expression to their serious concerns about the proposed cutbacks. These people have no political axe to grind. Their sole responsibility lies in their professional expertise in treating patients. Their concern was very solidly expressed and that concern was conveyed to the Minister for Health who was arranging a visit to Kerry ten days later. A request was made for the Minister to meet the consultants, but it is regrettable that he did not do so because he would have got a realistic picture of their thinking on the matter following the closure of the wards.
In addition to the impact of the closure on patients in Kerry it should not be overlooked that County Kerry is the hub of the Irish tourist industry. It is estimated that during the tourist season not less than 800,000 people pass through the county. In normal circumstances a percentage of these people would require hospitalisation and it would be regrettable if adequate facilities were not available to deal with them.
The whole position as expressed by the consultants to the public representatives is, to say the least, unsatisfactory. Their feeling was that decisions had been taken in Cork without full discussion on the impact of those decisions. That is something they would like to be fully involved in, and that should be the Minister's view also. It is difficult to understand how a hospital catering for the medical and surgical needs of a community can decide to impose very substantial cutbacks in the absence of full consultation with the consultancy, medical, nursing and ancillary staff. It is necessary at this stage that the Minister comes to grips with the Southern Health Board in relation to this matter.
I find it difficult to understand, as do many people seeking treatment and waiting for admission, why the board are proceeding with the appointment of three or four top-level staff, involving major changes in structure, costs, space, and so on. That may be a very necessary and desirable development in health board administration, but at a time when there are such severe cutbacks, the ordinary citizen is entitled to expect the resources available to be channelled into providing a service. I ask the Minister to take account of that issue.
At this time the board have serious problems in keeping intact their supplies and in making payments to contractors perhaps, three, four or five months out of line.
I appeal to the Minister of State that either he or the Minister go to Tralee and instead of meeting the politicians meet the consultants, the doctors and the nursing staff. They will give a true picture of the present position.