Danny Healy-Rae Demands Expanded Beds and Virus Compensation
Danny Healy-Rae spoke on 30 June 2020, pressing for expanded hospital capacity, more home help and nutritional oversight for patients. He also urged the minister and government to investigate international responsibility for the virus and seek retribution and compensation if another state is found responsible.
Local hospital concerns
Healy-Rae thanked health workers in Kerry and named hospitals in Tralee, Carseivine, Dingle, Kinmear, Clarny and Bantry. He called for the expansion or reopening of beds in Kinmear and Dingle and for delivery of the promised new hospital for Kilarny.
Emergency department pressures and staffing
He highlighted long waits in the emergency department in Tralee for elderly patients - people over 80 and 90 waiting up to 24 hours or beyond. He raised shortages of doctors in the emergency department and a lack of radiologists to read x-rays and scans, and warned patients were being sent home without required imaging.
Home help and patient nutrition
He called for increased home help so more people can remain in their homes, and asked who is monitoring the protein and nutritional value of food served to patients in hospitals and care homes. He expressed concern about nutrition when outside caterers are employed and stressed the need for proper protein and nutritional standards.
Support for funding and tribute to staff
Healy-Rae said he supports the extra funding that has been spent but wished there was more, and reiterated thanks to health workers around the country, particularly in Kerry. He emphasised the scale of need and the many outstanding issues that require attention.
Call for investigation and compensation
He asked the minister what international investigations have been done and referenced claims "they say it's the Chinese," urging the government to follow up. He called for retribution and compensation for the people of Ireland if another country is found responsible, citing the suffering of bereaved families including one named Jean Tagney from the Black Valley.
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Thank You Chairman. First of all, I too want to wish Minister Darlene all the best in his new job and we look forward to working with you and we certainly have a lot of things to start out. I want to thank the health workers all around the country, but especially in Kerry, the people that worked in the hospitals in Tralee, Carseivine, Dingle, Kinmear, Clarny and indeed Bantry who are very close to us and deal with a lot of patients in our general district. I want to ask you, Minister, as I've asked several times before, to deal with the need for expanding or reopening the beds in Kinmear and Dingle and the new promised hospital for Kilarny. I want to highlight problems in the emergency department in Tralee, where people over 80 and 90 years of age are waiting up to 24 hours and indeed beyond it. And there seems to be a problem with doctors in the emergency department, not enough of them, and radiologists to read x-rays and to read scans and people being sent home without this happening. That's not good enough. I want to raise the issue as well of home helps that people would like to stay a lot longer in their home if they had a bit of extra home help, and I'm calling for that. I want to also ask you, Minister, we know about the sanitary requirements and all that being followed up by HICWA, but I want to ask you, who's monitoring the protein and the nutritional value of what patients are getting in hospitals and care homes and where elderly people are being fed, so to ensure that they're getting the proper nutrition, especially where outside caterers are employed to bring in the food. And we need to be sure that they're getting the right type of food with the proper nutrition and protein in it. Minister, I want to say to you, we're all here today to support the extra funding that has been spent and wish that was more because there's so much more needed. But I'm asking you and your government, what investigations have been done internationally to ensure that whoever caused this virus, and they say it's the Chinese, that we follow up, and even though the people that are dead and the families that have suffered severe pain, and I think of one like Jean Tagney in the Black Valley, down our way beyond Kinmeyer, that have suffered so much, no money will ever pay or compensate them. But if the Chinese are responsible for this virus, I'm asking you and this government, the entire government, to follow up, to ensure that the people of Ireland get some retribution and get compensation for what has happened here. We all know what is costing. We don't have mines, we don't have gold, we don't have diamonds, we don't have oil. We'll have to, to the only working person, we'll have to pay the price. So I'm asking you, if there's retribution to be had, we should go after it. Because it's not fair what has happened to our country, our total lives and the lives of everyone that we represent are destroyed and upset. Thank you very much, Chairman. Guru Mahakur.
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