Danny Healy-Rae urges opening hospital visits, offers condolences
Danny Healy-Rae urged reopening hospital visits, arguing family members are needed for personal care and advocacy and warning that many patients have been lonely and died without loved ones. He also offered heartfelt sympathy to the family of Paddle Clifford from Milltown and to the Harrington family after recent deaths.
Plea to reopen hospital visits
Danny Healy-Rae pleaded for visits to be opened up for family members to patients in hospitals, saying relatives are needed for personal care and to advocate for patients. He said patients confide only in their own and stressed that many people have been lonely and some died alone during the virus, adding that family members miss those who worked hard all their lives and that visiting can be done safely.
Condolences to bereaved families
He offered his heartfelt sympathy to the family of Paddle Clifford from Milltown, who he said died the previous night leaving four children, and noted that Mr Clifford's wife Elaine had died four months earlier. He also offered sympathies to the Harrington family and the Clifford families who he said are in total shock at this time.
Government and health service response in the debate
The Taoiseach joined in offering sympathies and referenced health guidance, noting that HSE AMERIC - the antimicrobial resistance and infection control body - provides detailed guidance on managing COVID-19 risk and on normalising visiting in long-term residential care. The Taoiseach emphasised that healthcare settings differ from other public contexts because people with infectious COVID-19 may attend healthcare settings and many vulnerable people are present, requiring a greater degree of caution.
Nursing home outbreaks and vigilance
The Taoiseach cited current numbers in nursing homes, saying there are over 213 open outbreaks and 49 new outbreaks notified in the past week, and argued this underlines the need for continued vigilance in these settings. The exchange in the debate contrasted calls to reopen visits with official warnings about infection control and ongoing outbreaks.
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I plead with you to open up visits for family members to patients in hospitals. They need family members for personal care to advocate for them. Patients will only confide in their own. All people are lonely and this is the one thing that happened with the virus. Many of these people died alone. They miss their family members after working hard all their lives. Everything else is opened up. And that's fine. This is a new meaning. It can be done safely. I also want to offer my heartfelt sympathy to the family of Paddle Clifford from Milltown who died last night leaving four children behind him. His wife Elaine died four months ago. The four children are now on their own. I offer my heartfelt sympathy to the Harrington family and the Clifford families who are in total shock at this time. Thank you very much, Taoiseach. Thank you very much, Taoiseach. I'm going to join with you in sympathies to the Harrington and Clifford family on their loss. In terms of the ongoing nursing home restrictions, the HSE AMERIC, that's the antimicrobial resistance and infection control, provides extensive guidance for control of risk of spread of COVID-19 in healthcare settings, including extensive guidance on COVID-19 normalizing visiting and long-term residential care facilities. So healthcare settings are different from other contexts in which people gather for work or social interaction. People with infectious COVID-19 in need of healthcare may need to attend healthcare settings, introducing a risk of infection. Many of those most vulnerable to the consequences of COVID-19 infection are also present in healthcare settings. So for this reason, a greater degree of caution is required in healthcare settings compared to other settings. I just want to point out to you and the House, there are over 213 open outbreaks in nursing homes at present, with 49 new outbreaks notified in the past week. And this underlines the need for continued vigilance in these settings. Thank you Taoiseach. Thank you Taoiseach. Deputy Pad stuffed! You
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