I wish to raise the matter of the crisis in the health care services and the urgent need to open the new St. Clare's nursing home, which is currently lying idle. It is regrettable that, yet again, the Minister for Health and Children has chosen not to appear in the Dáil to answer for his area of responsibility. It is becoming quite common for the Minister to go missing when important issues arise, even though he was so vocal in Opposition, being on the airwaves practically every day of the week spouting about mismanagement of the health services. He has gone from being a bulldog to being a poodle in this Government. It is quite regrettable that he is not taking his responsibility seriously. There is a worsening health crisis which has been escalating over the summer months, but the Minister, Deputy Cowen, has been silent on all these issues. It is with regret that we are here to discuss this matter today and, unfortunately, the Minister is not available to answer for his stewardship.
Many people will be forgiven for thinking that the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, is the senior Minister in the Department because he is pushed out when RTE wants to speak to the Minister, Deputy Cowen, who is not prepared to face the music.
The health services are rapidly reaching the point of chaos. There are long waiting lists for operations; the most recent figures show that more than 34,000 people are waiting for operations. Meanwhile, the Minister for Health and Children is putting the squeeze on hospitals and health boards to get them to close beds, which further exacerbates the problem. It is unacceptable that, at a time of economic boom, the Minister for Health and Children should be closing hospital beds and forcing people to wait even longer for necessary operations.
Major problems are arising from the acute shortage of nurses in our health service. We have now reached the point where many of the hospital beds the Minister closed over the summer months cannot be re-opened because staff cannot be found for the hospitals. I and many others raised this issue with the Minister earlier in the year but it seems he was oblivious to the problem. He had no plans and no facts or figures to show that this major shortage was going to occur. We now find ourselves facing into a winter when further pressure will be put on health services and, yet again, we will not be able to respond adequately to those needs and demands.
I am raising this matter because more than 34,000 people are awaiting operations and that figure is growing all the time. When consultants, politicians and the public complained about this during the summer, the Minister responded in his usual fashion by setting up a review group. The Minister has had the review group's report for several months, yet we have not seen it. Is he waiting until after the Cork by-election to release the report? He is spending far too long in considering it. What we want now from the Minister is action and we need to see that action before the winter months come.
The problem is particularly acute in the Dublin area where 15,000 people are awaiting operations in the Eastern Health Board region. The main part of that problem relates to the north side of Dublin. The Mater Hospital, which has the longest waiting list, recently issued a report revealing major problems. The situation is similar in both Beaumont and Blanchardstown hospitals.
Up to 25 per cent of operations are being cancelled at the moment because of bed shortages. One main factor is that many elderly people who need nursing home care are occupying acute hospital beds at great expense. This is happening because there is insufficient forward planning in providing nursing home places. I do not blame the health boards for this and there is no excuse for the Minister in this regard. He has received several reports telling him the exact demographic requirement for hospital beds.
There is a state of the art, 50-bed nursing home in the Glasnevin area which is lying idle. Meanwhile, operations are being cancelled throughout the north side of Dublin. I call on the Minister to make funding available to open that nursing home so it can come on stream as quickly as possible thus freeing up beds in acute hospitals. In that way we can begin to make some impact on the waiting lists. It is an absolute scandal that facilities like this are available, yet the Minister is not prepared to provide the necessary funding to staff them. I call on him to indicate his intentions in this regard as a matter of urgency.
