25 January 2007
Dr. Henry: I thank the delegation for the presentation. I was with Comhairle na nOspidéal before even Mr. Martin so it is a little depressing. At least in Comhairle na nOspidéal we were able to blame the Department of Health and Children for any delays but now we have these supposedly new and improved structures and we still receive complaints about the delays and consultant appointments. Is Mr. Pat McLaughlin's position going to be replaced? Is that relevant to the situation? Is the new consultant appointment unit outside the Act?
It is depressing that we frequently hear that approval has been given for a post and funding has been put in place but there are interminable delays before the post is advertised. Is that totally the fault of the hospitals? I am surprised there is no involvement at all with the voluntary hospitals, although perhaps I misunderstood that.
The facilities for those who are appointed are also a constant source of complaints. Deputy Twomey mentioned surgeons who say they do not have operating time or beds and I have heard from anaesthetists who have been appointed with the same problem and a shortage of theatre nurses. Oncologists have been appointed to find there are no oncology beds for two years. Some streamlining is needed because even if a person is in place, people are not getting the service.
Support teams have been mentioned. Perhaps Mr. Rogan could address the situation in psychiatry. A considerable number of complaints have been made about psychiatry posts. These are now supposed to be in the community but no psychiatric nurses, psychologists or psychotherapists are being appointed to the community to go with them. People are working in totally inadequate circumstances.
The posts that have been approved were mentioned but we have been using these figures for a long time and thought the situation had improved. It is fine to approve the posts but how many have been filled since 2003? I have been involved in boards where we know that it takes time for people to come back from abroad because children must be taken out of school and people must work their notice, they cannot just move. Can anything more be done, however, to reduce the length of time needed to get people into posts? I am very worried about the delay between approval and funding of posts; we hear about that and relax only to find nothing has happened six months later. Last year's neurology posts are like that.
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