Mattie McGrath criticised delays and failings in the health service, arguing COVID-19 has pushed non-COVID care aside and that the HSE and Department of Health need "fundamental and radical" reform. He warned that postponed screenings, tests and operations and poor GP access are risking avoidable illness and urged accountability for pandemic spending.
Impact on non-COVID care
He described long delays across services including "self-aggressive tests", breast checks, bowel screening, orthodontic treatment for children and eye operations. He warned people are waiting for simple operations and that non-screening and non-appointments will lead to sickness and some avoidable deaths.
GP access and local services
He said GPs are under enormous pressure and patients cannot get appointments, giving a personal example of his daughter who could not see a GP after a sting. He criticised expansions such as extending pre-medical care to under-12s as ineffective if people cannot access a GP.
Use of private and local capacity
He pointed to local private and community capacity, citing the Mary Street Medical Centre and its ultrasound equipment which could relieve hospital backlogs. He described a short-lived 14-day contract that was pulled after eight days and called for better use of private practice expertise to reduce pressure on A&E.
Hospital operations and lab closures
He criticised theatre closures on weekends and bank holidays and said some labs stop taking tests over holiday periods, citing a Kildare lab that did not receive tests from Friday midday until Tuesday morning. He contrasted weekend operating in Northern Ireland with reduced weekend services in the south.
Spending, accountability and reform proposals
He expressed alarm at COVID spending described as "mind-boggling and frightening" and called for the Government to "put on the brakes" and ensure accountability because costs will have to be repaid. He argued for fundamental HSE reform, suggested patients should contribute something toward care and prescriptions, and urged the minister to consider radical and practical changes to how services are run.
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Yes, I'd like to thank you to the Deputy Donnelly and the Harry Stott Deputy Butler. Again, I wish them well and offer to work with them on behalf of our group here because, my goodness, there's some work to be done in the health, in the HSE. And, you know, I have to praise the staff and where they've worked and had always, but especially now in the COVID, but this is going to have enormous impact on our health services, bad enough as it was. But the impact now for people waiting for, whether it's self-aggressive tests, whether it's breast checks, whether it's bowel screening, whatever, they're all put back and put back and put back. Children with orthodontic treatment, you know, children with eye problems. Deputy Michael Collins on the Hilly Ways bus slows up and down to Belfast every weekend with people going blind just for a simple operation. That's been taking place. Our NGOs go out, medics go out with NGO organisations and do it in the deserts, inside in tents and places, makeshift hospitals. For third world countries. And we can't do it at home. In spite of the fact that almost, you know, 18, 19 billion is going to the health service every year now. Anyway, I don't know why I welcome the extension to the ages of the, of the medics because it's a trade. Because the GPs are under enormous pressure. They can't, a person now can't get a GP. My own daughter got a sting the other night in her hand and the other day, and the day after it was a swelling and swelling and swelling and she tried to get her GP, couldn't see her, wasn't A&E. I mean, COVID is one thing, but we have to treat our people. COVID, I mean, I have huge issues around it. It's COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. And forget everything else. People get sick and people do get sick. And the amount of sickness and the amount of people will die, unfortunately, because of neglect now and because of non-appointments and non-screening and non-checks. It's sad. And I've released some of the cases before to the previous minister about people and with private health care insurance and everything else. So minister, our ministers, you have a hard job in mental health and all the people as well. You have a hard job, but I'm here to help you. But we need fundamental and radical reforms in the HSE and the Department of Health. Fundamental. I mean fundamental. Because when Belfast and indeed the Northern Ireland assembly, the Northern Ireland people, they recognise the Sabbath more than we do down here. It was an atom at them to work on the Sabbath. But now they can do fleets of operations on a Sunday. And it doesn't make sense that our theatres are closed here in this country, in the south of the border, for weekends. Bank holidays, the whole shebang. We start during the height of the COVID, where Inford, the lab in Kildare, didn't get a test sent in them from 12 o'clock on a Friday to bank holiday in June till Tuesday morning. They just stop every Christmas without fail. We see a disaster in January because people are just, the holidays are taken, the place closes down and they go off and the whole thing is, the system is shut down. There are nurses frontline. There are doctors and there are, of course, attendants, everybody else and management who run the hospitals in those times. But the vast majority of people take their holidays. If it's running like a business, it should, it should run. So, I mean, this, all this carry-on, we're extending the pre-medical care now to, to, to under-12s is, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's useless. Because you can't get GPs. You can't get in. And the poor woman in Armandus inside waiting in her pain, that's 60 quid if they can get in or whatever, they're overran, they're pushed out of the way. So, we need to have a fundamental re-examination. And I believe that every patient should pay something, something to a medical care and a prescription. We brought that in two years ago. Now this charge is on so many items. It's too much and it's too high. But there need to be, you know, some kind of re-evaluation to you. The GPs are under enormous pressure. And the GPs can do so much. And I brought the last minister, I'll invite you again, minister, to come down to Clunmalla, the Vale of Honey, someday, maybe during the holidays or whenever, and come to the Mary Street Medical Centre and see the wonderful scanning equipment that they have there, that they could do ultrasounds. And the Minister Harris came down and they tried for a contract to do this because you're waiting six months for one in the hospital, maybe seven months. They could do it here, connect it onto the University of Limerick and read the scans, professional people, and it will take those people away from the E&Es. Simple. And we got the contract after eye-raising it all day in, day out, after numerous high-level meetings, including the minister, and we got it for a 14-day contract. Probably the shortest contract that was ever issued by the HSE. And then it was pulled after eight days. No funding. Things like that, stopgap measures, the expertise is there on the private practices to be used to help the situation. So that has to be done. And minister, please, please, when are we going to stop the spending for COVID? I have a PQ back last week, and the spending is just mind-boggling and frightening. Just money thrown at this, that, and the other. This will all have to be paid back. So I'm asking you to put on the brakes and have accountability there. Go ra-ma-ha-goos. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Secretary.
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