I wish to share my time with Deputies Ulick Burke and Michael Kitt.
Adjournment Debate. - Hospital Closures.
That is the new ecumenism in Galway.
It worked in Mayo as well.
Deputy Kenny should not eat into Deputy Connaughton's time.
We are all friends.
The proposed closure of the Bons Secours hospital in Tuam is nothing short of a disaster for the people of Tuam, north Galway and south Mayo. I acknowledge the work of the Sisters who have contributed enormously to the health care of thousands of people in this area through the years. Their decision to close the hospital is regretted by many.
However, this decision will put the sincerity of the Western Health Board and the Minister for Health and Children in providing adequate district hospital care for the Tuam area to the test. The lame excuse of the Western Health Board was that it could not get involved in purchasing the hospital because the building did not suit its requirements while an investment programme in Áras Mhuire – a geriatric home in Tuam – was announced in the same statement. This expansion is welcome and necessary and has been sought for over ten years, but where the Western Health Board has missed the point is in determining whether a district hospital with a step-down facility and other vital services is necessary for Tuam and the surrounding areas.
I want the health board and the Minister to outline the basis for the evaluation which would indicate that no such hospital facilities are necessary for Tuam. I challenge the health board to provide me with the basis for that information as I believe no such information is available. We have high-tech hospitals in Galway and Castlebar which are clogged with patients. Gaining admission to UCHG can be arduous and, as everyone knows, space is at a premium.
On behalf of the thousands of people in this area I want the Minister to know that Tuam needs a district hospital and will not accept anything less. If the Sisters' generosity was the only reason Tuam had a hospital the State should be ashamed. It is now a question of whether it is greed before need; the greed of the Exchequer to save money at the expense of the people of Tuam or the need to provide a decent district hospital for generations to come. The matter is in the Minister's hands.
I thank Deputy Connaughton for sharing his time. Will the Minister of State plead with the Minister for Health and Children and urge him to intercede as a matter of urgency with the health board to ensure the continuation of the services provided by the Bon Secours Hospital in Tuam for the people of the town, north Galway, south Mayo and Roscommon. Elective surgery was carried out in the hospital over the years and it was also a convalescent home. The loss of such a facility in the area would have a huge impact on the delivery of care to the people of the region. It is imperative before this matter is discussed in detail in committee at a special meeting of the Western Health Board on 3 November that the Minister indicates his support for the continuation of this service in the Tuam area.
As Deputy Connaughton said, the importance of this and the service the Bon Secours sisters have provided cannot be understated. The evaluation by the Western Health Board of the unsuitability of the facilities at the Bon Secours Hospital is inaccurate and incorrect. With reasonable expense for reconstruction, a fantastic facility can be provided rather than going to the expense of a green field site development as proposed by the health board. Has an undertaking already been given by the health board to someone to continue on its silly way at the cost of denying people in Tuam and the surrounding area the service to which they are entitled?
I thank Deputy Connaughton for sharing his time. The Bon Secours Hospital, Tuam, or The Grove as it is called locally, has played a useful and functional role for generations of people from Tuam, north Galway and the hinterland of south Mayo and south Roscommon. The Grove is more than a nursing home. It is a place where minor surgical procedures are performed and it provides services ranging from x-ray examinations to routine laboratory testing to dental surgery to physiotherapy. Patients can have an adequate period of rest and recuperation there rather than being discharged from busy public hospitals. The staff includes three consultants, a medical physician, a general surgeon and an eye specialist. Local doctors also use the hospital for the care of their private patients. The nursing care is provided by outstanding staff who care for the sick in the highest professional manner. The Grove is also the original home of Tuam Cancer Care and one must pay a great tribute to the Bon Secours sisters for their co-operation and great service through the years.
There must be consultation in the next few weeks between the Minister for Health and Children, the Bon Secours management, the Western Health Board and doctors and other professional users of the hospital. The decision to close must be deferred. I urge the Minister to discuss these issues with the Bon Secours management and the Western Health Board and I urge him to meet a delegation from Tuam with a view to providing a community hospital in the town. We do not want important services sucked into the University College Hospital Galway where there will be overcrowding, especially over the Christmas period. I know there are plans for additional beds in the Áras Mhuire welfare home in Tuam, which is welcome, but the closure of the Bon Secours Hospital should be deferred until we see what proposed health services are to be put in place by the Department and the Western Health Board.
I thank the three Deputies for raising this issue which is obviously of great importance to them and to the Tuam area. The Bon Secours Hospital, Tuam, is a private hospital and the question of its closure is a matter for the Bon Secours Order. I understand the order intends to transfer patients to the Bon Secours Hospital in Galway city.
The provision of health services in Galway is a matter for the Western Health Board. I note that the board is expanding the range of services at University College Hospital Galway. A tender has been accepted for phase two of the development and work commenced in June 2000. This phase will include: an intensive care unit, including cardiac intensive care, a burns unit, coronary care unit, additional operating theatres for cardiac surgery and orthopaedic surgery, orthopaedic beds for trauma, a cardiac surgery ward, an MRI unit, upgrading of wards, a radiotherapy department to shelling-out stage, an administrative-concourse area, a medical records-admissions department and a medical social work department.
That is the report from the chief executive officer to the Western Health Board. Can the Minister of State do any better?
The Minister of State should be allowed to conclude.
It is important that the people of Galway should have the reassurance that the services available to them are being expanded and developed to a high degree.
The provision of cardiac surgery, radiotherapy and MRI services will establish UCHG as a major centre of excellence in the provision of acute hospital care. It will mean that services which have traditionally been provided in Dublin will be available to the people of the west in their own region.
A 30 bed rehabilitation unit for older people is being developed at Merlin Park Regional Hospital, Galway, for which a design team is being put in place. In addition, a 20 bed extension opened in 1999 at Áras Mhic Dara, Carraroe. Under the national development plan, the board has plans to extend St. Francis community nursing unit in Galway city and to construct a new community nursing unit in Ballinasloe.
I understand discussions have taken place between the Bon Secours Order and the Western Health Board regarding the future use of the facilities at Tuam. The board undertook a detailed analysis of patient needs in the Tuam area and an appraisal of the capital and operational costs of three options based on a 50 bed and a 60 bed community hospital for older people. The options were: adaptation of the Bon Secours Hospital, Tuam, an extension of the existing 25 bed community nursing unit on the Dublin Road, Tuam, which is known as Áras Mhuire, or a green field development. The option appraisal showed a capital and operational advantage in extending Áras Mhuire.
That is a different matter.
The Bon Secours Order has been advised of this. The future development of services for older people in Galway is a matter for the Western Health Board in the context of funding available under the national development plan.
That is a poor answer.
It is a shameful reply.