Minister for Health Mary Harney has acknowledged that the facilities put in place for cystic fibrosis sufferers were not what they should be.
However, it had been equally acknowledged that the services had greatly improved, particularly regarding the employment of clinical expertise, she said. "I accept that in this and many other areas, the need for single rooms is a priority. That is the reason the new paediatric hospital for the country will be all single rooms."
Ms Harney said that measures being taken at St Vincent's hospital, Dublin, were only temporary. It was the hospital's wish that the cystic fibrosis facilities would be part of the 120-bed facility to be built there. For many reasons, the hospital did not believe it was appropriate to build a cystic fibrosis unit separate from the 120-bed facility, she added, and that was the reason a modular-type facility would be put in place and ready by the end of the summer.
Replying to Fine Gael spokesman on children Alan Shatter, Ms Harney said he was correct in saying there were 1,100 cystic fibrosis patients, 45 per cent of whom are children and 55 per cent adults. Life expectancy had greatly improved, she said.
Mr Shatter said it was substantially less than in the UK.
Ms Harney said it was somewhat less, not substantially. " The issue is a priority. In each of the last three years, since I became Minister for Health and Children, we have put specific ring-fenced funding into the area of cystic fibrosis.
"In the service plan approval I gave to the HSE before Christmas for 2008, I made special reference to the need to strengthen the facilities for cystic fibrosis patients."
