I dtosach báire ba mhaith liom leithscéal a ghabháil leis an Aire as ucht moill a chur air.
The subject I would like to bring to the Minister's attention this evening is the care for elderly people in the Western Health Board region, and particularly people living in Connemara.
The problem arises because of organisational resources within the health board. At present elderly people needing full-time care and attention are all channelled through St. Brendan's Hospital in Loughrea. Subsequently, if they are lucky, they can be transferred to other homes within the county. To highlight the serious problem we face in this regard, I put it to the Minister that if I or he suggested that people in Dublin had to be sent to Ballinasloe for an extended period before a place could be found for them in a Dublin home for the elderly, there would be social outcry. St. Brendan's, Loughrea, is 25 miles from Galway city and many places in Connemara are 50 to 55 miles on the other side of Galway city. This means many old people are cared for in homes 80 miles from the residence of the relatives; that entails a return trip of 160 miles to visit them. At the very conservative costing of 20p per mile the cost to visit a relative from Carna, Cleggan, Ballyconneely or Clifden would be around £32. Since a large number of the people in this area are unemployed, the obvious burden placed on them is intolerable.
This also involves social dislocation. Taking people out of their natural environment and putting them into a totally different environment is unsatisfactory. I know St. Brendan's in Loughrea is an excellent home, I accept that. Nobody who has any contact with the services would deny that. I am not implying any criticism of the care or the standard of nursing in St. Brendan's. There would, however, appear to be a lack of resources or a lack of organisation which is causing all the people to be channelled through one hospital.
A further problem arises in this area in that St. Brendan's is in the Galltacht and therefore is particularly unsuited to deal with patients from Gaeltacht areas. These patients often become disorientated when taken from the normal linguistic surroundings and when they have to deal with nurses and doctors, etc., through the medium of English. Most of these old people have a certain amount of English but I know from my extensive experience dealing with people in that area, their first language is Irish, and particularly in times of stress they revert to the Irish language. Therefore, the extension of the provision of care and services through the medium of the Irish language to these patients is also a matter of grave concern.
I know the Minister will accept this point and understand it because of his experiences as a medical practitioner. It tends to be underestimated as a human problem, particularly when dealing with old people. I hope the Minister will use his good offices to ensure first, that all elderly patients needing care will be directed towards the home geographically nearest to them and that whatever further resources are needed will be made available to help in this organisation. I also hope that further facilities could be made available in Merlin Park Hospital, if facilities cannot be provided in Connemara, because Galway city tends to be a convenient location for many people in the greater Connemara area. Galway city is the shopping and business centre. It is the town to which most people gravitate when they want to do business. To add another round trip of 50 miles imposes terrible strains on people. I would like an investigation to be carried out to ensure that further facilities will be provided in the existing homes in Clifden and Carraroe.
Ar an gCeathrú Rua tá cúram anmhaith á thabhairt do mhuintir na Gaeltachta ina dteanga féin. Tá comhluadar a bpobail féin acu agus tuiscint acu dá chéile agus tá na daoine ansin sona sásta. Chuirfeadh sé go mór leis na seirbhísí dá bhféadfaí díriú ar an ionad áirithe sin. Bítear i gcónaí ag caint ar an nGaeilge agus ar thábhacht na teanga ach bímse in amhras go minic faoi bhealaí in a gcaitear airgead ar an nGaeilge. Dá gcuirfí na cúraimí seo ar fáil i dteanga an phobail bheadh dea-thoradh ar an gcaiteachas airgid, ó thaobh leas an phobail de agus a sláinte, agus ó thaobh na Gaeilge de.
I would like to draw the Minister's attention to the fact that in the Western Health Board area there is a rigid adherence to county boundaries. County committees ensure that elderly people must be admitted to a home within their own county. In the Cong area, a ludicrous situation arises. Cong village is in County Mayo, but 100 yards out of the village you are in County Galway. If you live on the Galway side of the border, rather than being placed in Castlebar you have no option but to go to Loughrea. This seems ludicrous. Castlebar is 25 miles from Cong; Loughrea is 50 miles away. That an imaginary line in a health board area could cause this type of dislocation and inconvenience is bureaucracy gone mad. We are always talking about trying to put a human face on our services. The resources needed to reorganise this service would not be very great. It is about time the Western Health Board instead of looking at people from the point of administrative convenience directed their attention to addressing the human realities. The old deserve better; their relations deserve better. In any other part of the country this would not be tolerated.
The people in the rural areas tend to be very patient. While they consistently beg us in clinics and wherever they meet us to address this problem, they have waited very patiently for a response. I hope the Minister will use his good offices to end what I consider a scandal which would not be tolerated in any city; nor would it be tolerated if many of the people involved had the social clout to ensure that their voices were heard. These people are not looking for much but they deserve to be treated with dignity in their old age. They want care of the elderly to be an extension of the community; they feel that people should not be uprooted and moved to areas that are distant from their families. I know the Minister, with his very human approach, would agree with that. I ask him to consider seriously what I have said here this evening. The benefit of reorganising this service to the social fabric of life in the west would be tremendous. The resources spend would give a thousand-fold return in terms of human thanks and respect.
Tá mé an-bhuíoch den Aire as ucht teacht agus éisteacht leis an méid a bhí le rá agam. Is ceist bhunúsach í seo do mhuintir Chonamara. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil crá croí ag baint leis an gcóras mar atá sé i láthair na huaire. Táthar ag súil anois go ndíreoidh an tAire ar na fadhbanna seo agus go ndéanfaidh sé cinnte de go mbeidh siad in ann cúram a fháil ina n-áit dúchais, i bpobal dúchasach, agus tá mé ag tnúth go géar len a fhreagra.
