asked the Minister for Health if he will approve the appointment of a consultant anaesthetist and consultant paediatrician to Castlebar General Hospital, County Mayo; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Castlebar Hospitals.
5.
These two posts are among a number of consultant posts approved by Comhairle na nOspidéal, the filling of which have to be considered in the light of the funds available. To date it has not been possible to provide funds for these posts.
Having regard to the circumstances in which there is only one consultant paediatrician in Castlebar General Hospital, that he is on call 24 hours a day and that the percentage bed occupancy at the hospital in 1981 was 136.59, would the Minister not agree that immediate ministerial sanction for another paediatrician should be given and that the same applies to the question of an anaesthetist?
The Deputy will be aware that before I came to office an embargo was placed on all such appointments but that matter will be considered within the context of any review of the embargo.
I would remind the Minister that prior to the election the present Taoiseach accompanied by a battalion of very prominent party members, visited the hospital and committed himself to announcing, through whoever was to be the new Minister for Health, that these appointments would be made. We now have that new Minister here.
The matter is now being reviewed but it involves more than one consultancy. There are a number of important and very urgent consultant posts which were affected by the embargo. That matter has to be reviewed on a national basis. It is being reviewed at the moment on that basis but I would agree that the consultant post to which he referred is one that should be considered a priority.
When may we expect a decision in this matter? The paediatrician who is there may not stay for very much longer.
There will be a decision as soon as the review has been completed.
When might that be?
As soon as possible.
The Minister has referred to an embargo which he alleges he inherited and says that this is causing the difficulty in this matter. In these circumstances is he proposing to have that embargo lifted?
The Deputy knows that that is a general matter affecting all the Departments of Government.
I am talking about the Minister's Department.
But the Deputy will be aware that it applies to all Departments and must be considered in that context. That is being done.
What does that mean? Is the embargo to be lifted or not?
6.
asked the Minister for Health if he is now in a position to release to tender stage the proposals already drawn up for the provision of a new general hospital in Castlebar, County Mayo; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The previous Government made no provision in the capital programme for commencement of work on this scheme this year. I am reviewing the matter in order to ensure that tenders can be obtained and that building will commence as soon as circumstances permit.
I am aware of the previous Government's failure to implement this proposal. Is the Minister aware that for its size this is the busiest hospital in the British Isles, that the staff are working in conditions which constantly place them under extreme pressure, that the average bed occupancy is 101 per cent and that a senior consultant, in today's Irish Press, stated that cross-infection is a serious danger for all patients in the hospital? Is the Minister aware that at the last meeting of the health board the CEO indicated that he had not heard from the Government that they intended to seek tenders for the new hospital?
I am so aware. When I was Minister for Health previously I made it my business to visit the hospital and I recognised then the difficulties under which Castlebar Hospital was labouring. I should like to tell the Deputy that in my view it was the most overcrowded hospital in the country and that is why I put it on the programme which we prepared before we left office. That is the reason why I expressed disappointment that it had not reached the tender stage, or that a contract was not committed and that it was dropped from the programme. I am anxious to have that programme restored for Castlebar at the earliest possible date.
Is the Minister aware that the Taoiseach indicated under banner headlines in the local newspapers prior to the election that he would be allowing the new Minister for Health to go ahead with this immediately? We are dealing with a matter of life and death and I should like the Minister to comment on the statement by the senior consultant in relation to the serious danger of cross-infection in the hospital due to overcrowding. It is generally known that one case of chickenpox in the hospital infected all surgical cases there recently.
That statement was made recently and I will have the matter investigated fully.
I should like the permission of the Ceann Comhairle to raise this matter on the Adjournment.
The Chair will communicate with the Deputy.