The Taoiseach will be aware from his staff, who read newspapers, watch television and listen to radio, of the horror stories that unfold every day in regard to health, horror stories involving people who are old, sick or have a disability – for instance, the 74 year old woman who spent 16 days as an in-patient on a trolley in Tallaght Hospital or the accident and emergency unit I visited recently where two suicidal psychiatric patients were under private security for two days.
Dublin hospital waiting lists are up 107% on the figure five years ago. We think the position is bad, but it gets worse every day. The latest insult is the disgraceful cutback in the number of hours available under the home help service scheme, which makes life bearable for many thousands of our citizens. In the North Eastern Health Board area alone there is a reduction of 85,000 home help hours this year. Is this not absolutely disgraceful and contemptible treatment of the vulnerable in our society who need that service? Is it right that in a country that has come through five of the strongest economic years we have ever enjoyed, people still wait four years for cataract or hip operations, seven years for orthodontic treatment and some years for cardiac treatment?
Is this not disgraceful treatment of the health services of our country? Is it not an indication of a complete lack of leadership and of the ability to manage professionally a service that has let people down? We have heard all about task forces and reports on health. We had the Brennan report, the Prospectus report and the task force on medical staffing. Will the Taoiseach tell the House how much has been spent on these reports and on consultants' queries over recent years? Has a single initiative from any of these reports made the lives of our patients or the health delivery service to them any whit better in recent years?
