Carol Nolan questions engagement after children's chemo deferrals
Carol Nolan raised concerns about the deferral of chemotherapy sessions for children and asked whether hospitals' concerns had been engaged with. She asked whether the minister had acted after reports that bed capacity was cited as the reason for the deferrals.
Question raised
The deputy asked the Taoiseach about last week's deferrals of children's chemotherapy sessions, noting shock, frustration and distress among many families and querying whether there was any engagement with hospitals such as Crumland Hospital.
Government response
The Taoiseach said there had been engagement from the Taoiseach's office with Children's Health Ireland, which manages the children's hospitals, and indicated his office had been in contact about the issue.
Causes cited
The Taoiseach attributed the cancellations to bed capacity pressures associated with the RSV virus, the lack of single rooms in the older children's hospitals where infection can spread, and beds being closed for infection control reasons.
Interim and long-term measures
He said some additional beds were being opened over the winter as an interim solution. The Taoiseach said the long-term solution is the new children's hospital, which will have single rooms and space for a parent to stay - a development he said was needed urgently.
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I'd just like to raise with you, Taoiseach, we all know the situation regarding the deferrals of chemotherapy sessions for children last week, which was met with shock and frustration and distress by many families. And I'd just like to know, was there any engagement with the hospital's concerns, such as Crumland Hospital? Did the Minister engage? Because we're told that it was bed capacity, that that was the whole reason for the deferrals. And I'd just like to know if action has been taken. Graemeagat. Mr. Help, but I'm sure there was, certainly there was from my office with Children's Health Ireland, which manages the children's hospitals. As you know, the children's hospitals are particularly busy at the moment because of the RSV virus, because we don't have single rooms in our very old children's hospitals where there's a virus rampant in a hospital. There's huge demand and pressure on beds and also some beds have to be closed because of infection control. That will be very different in the new children's hospital, in which every room is a single room is a single room. We'll be able to deal with so many different infection control issues and there's even room for a parent to stay over. As an interim measure, some additional beds are being opened over the winter period, but it's only an interim solution. What we need is the new children's hospital and we need it yesterday.
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