Young man left in €1,000-a-day Kilkenny hospital bed since November, TD tells Dáil

Local TD John McGuinness has raised the plight of a young man in Kilkenny who has been left in the 'inappropriate setting' of a hospital bed since November, when he should have been moved out to the community.

The Fianna Fail TD was questioning the Taoiseach in the Dáil yesterday on the ongoing industrial relations issues at the St Patrick's Centre. The local TD said he believed the policy of decongregation, where people are being moved from institutionalised settings into the community, is a successful one but it lacks funding.

"As a result of the lack of funding, the consequences for staff is that they still remain within the setting but they are not being paid properly, they are not being given redundancy, their pensions are an issue, and the HSE is not in a position to respond to them," he told Mr Varadkar.

"The other consequence is that the clients of the service, who are waiting to be put in homes where a home is available, are waiting for €600,000 to fund it."

Consequence
"Lastly, can I just bring to attention another consequence of this, where a young man has been left in St Luke's Hospital since November of last year," said Deputy McGuinness.

"The bed is costing €1,000 a day. It is an inappropriate setting, everyone agrees it. But the senior officials within the HSE will not give sanction to the funding that is necessary to take that young man, whose health is deteriorating, out of the hospital and put him into the appropriate setting that he deserves."

Responding, the Taoiseach said he was not in a position to answer, and he wouldn't be able to do Deputy McGuinness justice without having a better understanding of the issues he is raising. He said if Deputy McGuinness sent something in writing, he would make sure the Minister for Disabilities was made aware of it.

The Kilkenny People previously made enquiries to the Ireland East Hospital Group regarding the matter. A spokesperson said that St Luke’s General Hospital could not comment on individual patient cases.

“The hospital works closely with the Ireland East Hospital Group and their Community partners to discharge patients when appropriately to do so. Patients who no longer require acute care but require homecare or community assistance are prioritised and discharged as soon as the appropriate funding has been made available,” said the statement.