Deputy Toddy O'Sullivan gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of the threatened closure of the cardiac unit at the South Infirmary in Cork city. The time for this debate is rather limited. Eight minutes will be allocated to the Deputy and five minutes to the Minister.
Adjournment Debate. - Cork Hospital Cardiac Unit.
I propose to allocate some of my time to Deputy Liam Burke and Deputy Máirín Quill.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I shall be very brief in what I have to say regarding this unit. My concern about the future of the cardiology unit in the South Infirmary-Victoria hospital complex arises from a recent media report which suggested that this unit was being transferred to the Cork Regional Hospital. Since then my fears in this regard have been confirmed by news which is circulating and information which was given to me as a member of the board of the South Infirmary-Victoria Hospital complex on Monday last. I would be very happy if the Minister were to tell me that my information is unsound, that there is no foundation whatsoever for this fear and that it is not his intention nor the intention of his Department to transfer this unit to the Cork Regional Hospital. If the Ministers can allay my fears I will be very happy.
The question has been asked in Cork if the South Infirmary-Victoria Hospital complex is going to go down the same road as the North Infirmary and if once again, Cork is to suffer at the hands of this Government. I think it is worth bearing in mind that this is no ordinary hospital in so far as in that hospital we have the merging of two traditions, Catholic and Protestant, who have worked out a very satisfactory arrangement. The chairman of the hospital is the Minister's colleague, Minister of State, Deputy Lyons. I think we have proven that we can provide a worthwhile service in the community.
I have done a good job there.
I am not disputing that and the Minister of State has the co-operation of his colleagues in all parties.
It should be said that the South Infirmary promoted the idea of a special cardiology unit in Cork before any other hospital took the initiative. It highlighted the need for the service in the area at a time when people were not conscious that the service was required. This service pre-dated the opening of the Cork Regional Hospital which is now endeavouring to control cardiology in the Cork area. This is what concerns me. This service was being provided in the South Infirmary before the merger with the Victoria Hospital and before the Cork Regional Hospital was opened. I would question the rationale behind this move.
The first question would have to be what the cost per patient will be. It will be far more expensive to treat a patient at the Cork Regional Hospital than it is at the South Infirmary and Victoria Hospital. Will it provide a more efficient service? Will there be better patient care if it is in line with the type of service at the Cork Regional Hospital where you have what is called a five-day service which is, in fact, a four and a half day service? If you take into account admission on a Monday morning and discharge on a Friday afternoon, there is no justification for the hi-jacking of a cardiology service from the South Infirmary and Victoria Hospital, now that this unit has been proved successful in providing a very valuable service.
There are those in the health board who feel that this unit is theirs to ride roughshod over. It is worth considering the manner in which it was funded. Unlike Cork Regional Hospital, which received 100 per cent funding from the State, the community rolled in behind the South Infirmary and Victoria Hospital to the tune of £350,000 to £400,000. This was matched pound for pound by the Minister of the day and I am glad to say that it was my colleague, Deputy Barry Desmond, who was instrumental in providing these funds.
The South Infirmary enlisted the support of the business community and people in the community at large who are very generous in this regard. The State provided the equipment and staff which now consist of one cardiologist, one registrar, one nurse and one receptionist. The position of technician has been approved but has yet to be filled. Ultra-sound equipment has been provided and, as a member of the board, the Minister's colleague, Minister of State Lyons, will bear out the manner in which the members of the board look upon this unit. It is the flagship of the hospital. If it is to be removed it will have a detrimental effect on the morale of people working there.
I ask the Minister to give consideration to and examine carefully proposals now being put before him as being viable, because I do not think that it is in the best interests of the people of Cork or the patients who have occasion to require the services of this unit in the future that the unit should be moved.
Basically, you enter politics to achieve. As an achiever you often in public life taste the bitter pill of disappointment. In my 20 years as a Dáil Deputy for the north side of Cork city there have been few events more traumatic than the closure last year of the North Infirmary which served the people of the north side of Cork for generations. We now have the threatened removal of the cardiac unit of the South Infirmary to the Cork Regional Hospital. The South Infirmary cardiac unit handles more patients than all the combined hospitals in the Cork south-west region. Also, the cost per patient in the South Infirmary is approximately £300 less than for the Cork Regional Hospital. Where is the logic in that move? When we were in Government a special cardiac and out-patients' unit was built at the South Infirmary at a cost of £250,000. The local community contributed pound for pound to build this unit. Once again, after recently sanctioning the amalgamation of the South Infirmary and Victoria Hospital, the Minister wants to close down the main artery of this complex.
I would like at this juncture to pay special tribute here tonight to Dr. Noel Cahill, the cardiologist, and his specialist staff at the South Infirmary for their tremendous care and attention to all their patients. There is many a family in Cork that has cause to be eternally grateful to this unit. As a former patient, I cannot emphasise too strongly the importance that I attach to its retention. The cat scan facility which is located at the Cork Regional Hospital is readily available to patients from the South Infirmary, an arrangement which is working perfectly and, in my view, there is full co-operation between the two hospitals for cardiac patients. It is a callous, uncaring way to treat these people. It is at times like this that one must feel inadequate as an achiever when something one cherishes and admires, like the cardiac unit of the North Infirmary, is put at great risk. It is a time for battle and the people of rebel Cork will make sure that there will be a battle on.
I call Deputy Quill. The Deputy has less than one minute.
On 22 November last, in response to a question from Deputy Wyse who is sitting beside me, the Minister for Health, Deputy O'Hanlon, gave the following answer:
Officials in my Department are discussing with representatives of the Southern Health Board and the two voluntary hospitals in Cork ways in which general hospital services can be improved.
I am asking the Minister here this evening if he can tell those of us who have been elected to represent the region what way exactly he is proposing to improve hospital services in Cork? What exactly does he mean by improvement? Our experience is that every move made in the Cork region in relation to the hospital services in the name of improvement led to a gross disimprovement.
I must now call the Minister.
The result is that there is now a severe deterioration in the level of hospital services all over Cork city. I want the Minister to tell me exactly——
I call the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Leyden, to reply.
I am glad to get the opportunity to reply. I am rather surprised that Deputy O'Sullivan has raised this issue which has led to the emotional contributions by Deputies Liam Burke and Máirín Quill. I regard the comments, quite frankly, as scaremongering.
We cannot believe that.
I can assure Deputies that I am not aware of any threatened closure of the cardiac unit or any other service at the South Infirmary-Victoria Hospital. As a member of the Board of Directors of the South Infirmary-Victoria Hospital, Deputy O'Sullivan should know that there are no proposals before the board of the hospital concerning the cardiac service at the hospital.
Discussions are ongoing.
I would like to compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Lyons, and the other members of the board, including Deputy O'Sullivan, Deputy Burke and Deputy Wyse, for their work in the hospital. The service provided by the hospital is excellent and highly regarded by people in the Southern Health Board area and the Cork area generally.
The Deputy may be concerned about the normal discussions which take place from time to time between officials of my Department——
Not normal discussions.
——the hospital and the Southern Health Board about the best organisation of hospital services in Cork and the Southern Health Board area generally.
The Minister is misinformed.
(Interruptions.)
Order, please, Deputies. Allow the Minister to reply. His time is very limited.
Perhaps the Deputies may not want to hear the truth in this regard and would prefer that I would be silenced from stating the facts. The organisation of cardiac surgery and cardiology has been discussed informally but any changes in the present organisation of the services would not take place without the agreement of the hospital authorities and the consultants concerned. I can assure the Deputy that my Department have no plans to close the cardiac unit at the South Infirmary-Victoria Hospital.
What about the public representatives?
Discussions are ongoing.
We have no plans whatsoever to close that unit and I want to refute the scaremongering that is going on here tonight for party political reasons. That is the only reason that the Deputies wanted this debate tonight.
It is just like in Roscommon.
The Dáil adjourned at 9 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 1 December 1988.