Kildare being 'forgotten' when it comes to health services - TD

Kildare is “continuously being forgotten” when it comes to health services, school places and public transport, a local Social Democrats TD has claimed.

Kildare North TD Deputy Aidan Farrelly was speaking in the Dáil this week regarding conditions at Naas General Hospital.

Addressing Minister of State, Deputy Alan Dillon, Deputy Farrelly stated that population growth in Kildare has grown from approximately 100,000 in the 1990s to 250,000 now.

According to Deputy Farrelly, if current trends continue, Kildare will have a population of “half a million people” by 2050.

Such significant population increase places significant pressure on Kildare's critical infrastructure, Deputy Farrelly said, and nowhere was this pressure being felt more acutely than Naas General Hospital.

Deputy Farrelly said: “Last week, we were invited to a meeting by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation which was attended by nurses and consultants who spoke really honestly about the reality of working in Naas General Hospital right now. Their experience and stories about what they are facing are very concerning.

“They spoke about significant increases in presentations at the accident and emergency department without any increase in the numbers of nurses and consultants. We also heard from the head of the physiotherapy department, who said patients face a four-and-a-half-year wait from referral to engagement when it comes to physiotherapy. That essentially means many people will never receive a service.”

The Deputy said they also heard from Lakeview, one of the busiest psychiatric and mental health services in the country, which he said is “desperately” underfunded.

A comparison was made, he said, with a border region that has has one third of the population of the HSE catchment area in which Lakeview is situated, but which receives four times the mental health services funding.

He added: “My concern arises from the fact that we still have not met the 2024 allocation of staff. Sanctioned posts have not been filled despite numerous attempts by those responsible. We now find ourselves in a position where the management team and the HSE cannot hire.

“Responsibility comes back to the Department of Health to sanction posts in Naas General Hospital. However, two weeks ago at the public accounts committee, of which I am a member, the same Department's officials told me after questioning that it needs to find a reduction of €100 million in its staffing bill this year alone.”

“We have a situation where we simply do not have adequate or safe staffing levels in Naas General Hospital to the point where we see the real prospect of bed closures, while the Department says it needs to reduce its human resources bill by €100 million.”

Deputy Farrelly said Kildare needs “proper representation and to be catered for.”

Kildare is continuously being forgotten when it comes to health services, school places and public transport, he said.