Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 21 Nov 2002

Vol. 557 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - Hospital Services.

Mr. F. McGrath

I welcome this debate on Beaumont Hospital which is located in the heart of my constituency, Dublin North Central. It is appropriate that we are discussing this serious issue in the week of the publication of the Book of Estimates. I was elected on a strong health and disability platform and I intend to develop this agenda further and push it strongly. It is a national scandal that after seven years of an economic boom and a lot of hot air from the Government parties Beaumont Hospital still has roofs and windows leaking, a shortage of beds, cancer operations cancelled, inadequate intensive care services, no proper facilities for doctors, one toilet for 40 male doctors and 24 more beds needed for seriously ill patients.

I compliment Dr. David Hickey, director of the kidney and pancreas transplant unit, for his honest, open and genuine views on the conditions in the hospital. We need people of his ability, integrity and calibre working in our health services. He cares passionately about the quality of the health service and has the vision to take the broader view of society and to be concerned about the Third World. He is a radical caring and progressive person, both at home and abroad. We need voices like his to put down a marker to people who appear to think they are running a business rather than a country, society or hospital.

As I said before about Beaumont, despite the major flaws, I am particularly proud of the staff and the excellent professional job done for their patients. Over the last seven years, we had the opportunity with all our extra finances and resources to do something sensible and radical about Beaumont and other hospitals, such as Temple Street Children's Hospital. Despite all the hype and the so-called 6% increase in health spending, which is a joke given health inflation is running at 10%, in Beaumont there was only one doctor to see the 6,000 diabetics who attended the hospital last year. Is this Government living in the real world? We are supposed to have 24 beds for transplant patients but have only six which is a disaster and disgrace. Many people working at the coalface are now concerned that there will be an exodus of doctors and nurses from the public health system, which is a nightmare situation and a major crisis waiting to happen unless we act now.

The Minister's defence of his colleague, the Minister for Finance, during the debate on the Estimates shows the direction in which the Government is going and it does not look good for Beaumont and the rest of the health services. I agree that tough decisions must be made, but why do we distort that word, so that it means closing beds and hammering the sick? The real tough decision would be to go after the tax dodgers and the €987 million in uncollected taxes instead of cutting health services. He must take the tough decisions in the patients' interest.

The Minister should also listen carefully to the views of the technical group, which the Minister of State would have heard earlier with the intervention of Deputy Twomey. We have quality people in the technical group with a medical background who can give good advice on running of a proper health service.

I welcome the debate on Beaumont and urge the Minister to do everything in his power to ensure Beaumont gets the maximum resources and finance to provide a top quality health service for the people of the north side of Dublin and the country as a whole.

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Mr. B. Lenihan)

On behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, I would like to deal with the issue raised by Deputy McGrath on the Adjournment and refute the suggestion made in the course of his address that the benefits and the moneys which accrued to the Government in the past seven years have been squandered in terms of improvements in the health service. I appreciate that Deputy McGrath was elected to this House for the first time in the recent general election but if he peruses the Appropriations Acts and the allocations under different Estimates in the past seven years he will see there was an enormous increase in the volume of expenditure on the health service in that period.

I welcome the opportunity to clarify the position in relation to Beaumont Hospital and to refute the implication that there has been any neglect of the hospital by the Government in terms of its development or refurbishment. I refer the House to a letter in The Irish Times yesterday from the hospital's chief executive in which he detailed a comprehensive investment programme at Beaumont Hospital. It is evident, however, that the views attributed to the hospital consultant in question are personal and do not reflect the views of the hospital's board and management.

In February 2000 the Department of Health and Children approved major equipment replacement and refurbishing works at Beaumont Hospital. As the Deputy will appreciate, major works such as these must, of necessity, be introduced on a phased basis to minimise disruption to patient services. The replacement equipment programme, costing approximately €11 million, is almost completed. The equipment replacement programme covers, inter alia, theatres, laboratories, out-patients and general wards. The Department, the hospital and the Eastern Regional Health Authority are finalising proposals for the refurbishment phase of the project. This work is being progressed as a priority.

In terms of acute hospital bed capacity, the Deputy will be aware that the Government decided, in the context of the health strategy, to provide an additional 3,000 beds in acute hospitals over the next ten years. The Minister, Deputy Martin, announced the first phase of these additional beds with the commissioning of an extra 709 beds in acute hospitals at a cost of €65 million. The latest advice to the Department from the Eastern Regional Health Authority and the health boards indicates that in excess of 600 beds will be in place by the end of this year and that the remainder will be commissioned early in the new year. The increase in bed capacity will allow the hospital system to make a significant increase in the activity levels for public patients. An additional 35 beds are being provided at Beaumont Hospital under this initiative.

The Department is informed by the Eastern Regional Health Authority that these beds will be commissioned early in 2003. The health strategy, Quality and Fairness – A Health System for You, outlines a programme of investment and reform of the health services. The underlying principle is to ensure that care is delivered in the most appropriate setting. Strategies are being developed in the areas of primary and community care, services for older persons and physical and sensory disability services to increase the capacity of such services to provide the necessary care in the appropriate setting.

The Deputy will be aware that funding has been provided in recent years for the contracting of additional places in private nursing homes to help reduce the effect of inappropriately placed patients on the acute hospital system.

I am pleased to advise the Deputy that an additional €1 million has recently been provided to the Eastern Regional Health Authority to cover the cost of providing additional contract beds in the current year. This additional funding will further assist in alleviating the pressure of inappropriate bed occupancy in the acute hospitals over the winter months. I understand Beaumont will have access to an additional ten places under this initiative.

I thank the Deputy for affording me the opportunity, on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, to clarify the position in relation to service provision at Beaumont Hospital. I am confident that the measures taken, including the capital investment, by my Department, the authority and the hospital concerned will provide a greatly enhanced environment and service at Beaumont Hospital for patients, staff and visitors.