Before calling on Deputy McDowell, I wish to remind Members of the convention that, if at all possible, persons outside the House should not be referred to by name or in a manner which would make them identifiable. In regard to the report of the inquiry, I would also ask that comment which might be seen as an attempt to influence the Minister's decision on the findings of the report should be avoided.
Adjournment Debate. - Beaumont (Dublin) Hospital.
I want to raise with the Minister for Health the situation which still unfortunately pertains in regard to the administration and reputation of Beaumont Hospital. As the House is aware, Beaumont Hospital is one of the largest hospitals in Dublin city. It has an immense throughput of patients and covers a very large catchment area. This new hospital, which was formed by the amalgamation of several older hospitals, ought to be a jewel in the crown of health administration in the Dublin area. The hospital has congregated under its roof many people with various professional skills in medicine, be they nursing staff, doctors, specialists or other people in the health area who provide much needed services to the people of north Dublin city. This hospital is also a centre of excellence in respect of several specialties.
In that context it is of the greatest importance that any perception in the public mind that a cloud hangs over the hospital or that the hospital is labouring under disadvantages caused by adverse publicity should be dispelled as soon as possible. It is important also that public confidence in the hospital, the services provided at every level and its administration should be restored as soon as possible to the requisite level. The opportunity should be availed of in that process to ensure that the standards of the hospital are vindicated in the public eye.
I make those remarks in general terms because I do not want to refer to any individual controversy. However, I have to say that when the Minister was on these benches there was no one — and I say that advisedly — as assiduous as he in calling for publicity about the problems which arose at that time in Beaumont Hospital and the publication of certain reports commissioned from outside experts. No one was as vociferous as he in calling the public's attention to the problems created for the hospital by the ongoing cloud over its reputation arising out of controversies which have been well ventilated in public and which I do not want to repeat here. No one was as vociferous or as persistent in drawing the public's attention to the problems in that hospital. He effectively and persistently harried the then Minister for Health in seeking answers to a number of questions he raised in this House.
For some reason — I think this is a well known fact, and I can comment without prejudice to anyone's reputation — a number of medical personnel in Beaumont Hospital were the subject of inquiries by the General Medical Council's Fitness to Practise Committee. Apparently those inquiries have been concluded but these matters fall to be rehearsed again before the courts. Apparently, the decisions reached by the committee have virtually no status except as a preliminary run over the course.
There is a separate issue involved here, that is, the inquiry which the Minister's predecessor, as a corporation sole, caused to be instituted into several different complaints which were not the subject matter of the Fitness to Practise Committee's inquiries or any appeal to the courts. Under the common contract, the then Minister appointed a committee of inquiry, which has had its report on the Minister's desk for some considerable time. The Minister exercises a quasi-judicial function in deciding whether to act on the report of that committee. The time has come for the Minister to act on this matter. He cannot use the excuse that court proceedings could affect his judgment; it is a matter for him to act. The Minister has had the report for long enough and he must make up his mind on it. I am not seeking to influence how he makes up his mind but if he does so expeditiously he will assist in lifting the cloud which has hovered for far too long over the hospital's reputation and the reputation of the senior staff working there. I ask the Minister to remedy that situation now. He knows that if he was on these benches he would be the first to raise this issue and he would not have allowed the amount of time I have allowed to elapse before bringing it to the attention of the Minister.
Beaumont Hospital has only been operational since 1987. This hospital as an entity replaced two old and out-dated but very venerable hospitals and, in a very short time, established itself as one of the country's major teaching hospitals with an international reputation. In terms of activity, the hospital since it opened has dealt with over 110,000 in-patients, 30,000 day cases have been treated and 60,000 operations have been performed. In addition, there have been 500,000 out-patients and 330,000 patients have attended the hospital's accident and emergency department. Not only is Beaumont Hospital one of the pivotal accident and emergency hospitals in the Dublin area but, as the Deputy will be aware, it has national and regional responsibilities, particularly in the renal and neurosurgical areas.
I am, of course, aware from the period before I became Minister for Health that certain difficulties arose in the hospital's neurosurgical department. I am unaware of any ongoing difficulties at the hospital and I would very much hope that the chapter of problems that arose in the past can be closed and that Beaumont Hospital can continue to get on with the business that it does best, that is, treating patients in need of care. In particular, considerable efforts have been made to consolidate and strengthen the neurosurgical services at Beaumont Hospital. Two additional consultants in neurosurgery have been appointed to the hospital staff and considerable investment has been made in the provision of additional theatre space and equipment. In addition, earlier this year, I was able to make resources available to the neurosurgery waiting list within the hospital's allocation of over £1.25 million from the national waiting list initiative.
The Deputy may be aware that I recently had the opportunity of formally opening the new magnetic resonance imaging facility at Beaumont Hospital which will significantly enhance the hospital's state-of-the-art diagnostic services. I look forward to working with the hospital over the coming years and building on its undoubted strengths as one of our finest hospitals.
With regard to the question of making available the report of the committee of inquiry established by my predecessor and referred to by the Deputy, I have received advice on this matter. This report was forwarded to my predecessor as Minister for Health, given the Minister for Health's functions under appendix V of the consultants' common contract relating to the appeal mechanisms. Because of my appelate role as Minister for Health in relation to the report of the committee of inquiry, I am advised that it would be inappropriate for me to make any comment on the matter other than to say that I will be making my decision in the near future. I am also advised that the making available of the report is a matter for the committee of inquiry itself.