Deputies McGrath and Penrose gave me notice to raise the following matter. The have five minutes between them.
Adjournment Debate. - Hospitals Building Programme.
I welcome the fact that the Minister came into the House to address this important matter. I hope his presence here is an indication that there is good news forthcoming because for the past four years we have not heard any good news about Mulligar General Hospital.
This hospital was completed in 1996 and commissioned in 1997. Some £7 million of taxpayers' money was spent on it. Unfortunately four floors still remain empty. There is not a bed in them. They are just empty shells.
There has been one promise delivered after another about the facilities of this hospital. Senator Cassidy issues statements almost on a weekly basis saying the money is coming. I have spoken to the Minister, who says the money is coming and the project is getting bigger. The sum involved now stands at about £40 million. The Senator has brought down the money in his back pocket so often that I do not know where it has gone.
The Minister will recall that he met a deputation from the Midland Health Board on 11 April last. On that day he promised he would have a decision within three months. Those three months are rapidly running out. Ten weeks have gone by since that deputation visited the Minister. I hope the Minister will be in a position to deliver tonight and to tell us the result of his deliberation. The situation is intolerable. There is a shortage of beds. Cubicles made to accommodate four beds very often accommodate six beds. They have, on occasion, had to accommodate seven beds. Can the Minister imagine the over-crowding that is causing? Can he imagine the lack of privacy and inconvenience it is causing to patients, doctors and nurses as they go about their job? Can he understand the feeling of staff in this hospital at the appointment of three consultants to the accident and emergency unit by the Midland Health Board? It was expected one consultant would go to each of the hospitals in Mullingar, Tullamore and Portlaoise. It has now been decided to appoint the three consultants to Tullamore hospital. The staff take that as a snub and a downgrading of Mullingar hospital.
The Minister overturned the decision made by the Midland Health Board on breast cancer services. He decided Portlaoise should be the lead centre and allocated a sum of £500,000 for its development. This is another step in the downgrading of Mullingar hospital which is very disappointing. The time for promises is over. The time has come for the Minister to deliver. It was pressure from the public during the 1994 local elections which brought about the appointment of a project team. That team presented its report to the Midland Health Board which, in turn, presented it to the Minister in October last year. Four people from the Minister's Department were on that project team. I cannot understand why there is such a long delay in the Minister coming forward with approval for architectural planning.
I hope the Minister has good news.
I am glad to have an opportunity to contribute to this important debate tonight. I, like my colleague, cannot emphasise to the Minister the importance to the people of Longford and Westmeath of the completion of phase 2B of Longford-Westmeath General Hospital by equipping, extending and staffing same.
Phase 2A which provided a new accident and emergency unit, x-ray unit and OPD department was completed in July 1997 and it was anticipated that phase 2B would follow. Nothing concrete has since happened except for foot dragging and side-stepping. The original phase 2B development included a certain amount but the Minister then established a project team in May 1999 which reported in November 2000 and his officials commenced processing the brief to bring it to its next stage. I accept that the Midland Health Board, as was its right, expressed the view that in the event of anticipated additional funding being made available for health services expansion under the national development plan, the Department would also commit itself to include ICU, CCU, rehabilitation unit, child and adolescent psychiatry, occupational therapy department, cater ing department and day services in phase 2B of Longford-Westmeath General Hospital.
This was a sensible proposal and would lead to comprehensive facilities and health services being available to serve the expanding population of Longford and Westmeath who would only be getting what they deserve. We know the cost of such a project is estimated to be approximately £40 million. All we are seeking is an unequivocal commitment to provide the capital for expansion of this hospital. There is tremendous anger among the nurses who have to look across at an empty four storey block gathering moss. This is a critical infrastructural facility providing as it would an upgraded state of the art facility to accommodate the medical requirements of the people in these two counties. It would mean an additional 90 beds which is of critical importance to this hospital where, during the winter months, an occupancy rate of more than 130% prevails. This creates difficulties for the excellent staff at all levels as doctors and nurses have to work through cramped beds which makes it more onerous and difficult for these people who are already over-stretched and are doing their professional best in difficult and over-crowded conditions. I commend them for their professionalism and competency in such trying conditions. They must be applauded but they and their patients deserve better. The people are seething with anger. The Minister should not be surprised if a major street protest takes place this autumn.
We were all awaiting, with Fianna Fáil candidates in place, positive news in this regard. Announcement of a decision in this area only means the people are getting what they deserve and what has been promised for the past ten years, nothing more. If the Minister thinks it will amount to a political stroke for electoral advantage, he can forget it. Our people are too wise to be taken in. It is only their money as taxpayers that they are getting back.
I reject the arguments made by both Deputies in terms of the overall issue and in particular in relation to breast cancer services and accident and emergency department consultants. The provision of accident and emergency consultants means a huge additional increase for the midlands area. It is a matter for An Comhairle, the body which structures consultancy posts, to decide on the structure and regionalised basis for the allocation of the posts. Just because they are located in one base does not mean they will not service the entire area, they will. That represents a very significant investment and enhancement of services as opposed to any downgrading of them.
My predecessor, Deputy Brian Cowen, approved the establishment of a project team to commence the planning of phase 2B development at Longford-Westmeath General Hospital in May 1999. In keeping with normal practice in major capital developments of this kind, the project team was asked to prepare a written design brief for the development of phase 2B to include the following departments: pathology, theatres, general medicine, general surgery, day surgery, administration services, isolation facilities, staff changing room, staff rest rooms and acute psychiatric unit.
The brief was received in my Department in November 2000 and the letter from the Midland Health Board which accompanied the brief indicated that the project team was anxious that the intensive care and coronary care be included in phase 2B. The project team also suggested that in the event of additional national development plan funding or other capital funding being made available, other departments not already included in phase 2B should proceed as part of the contract. These include, rehabilitation unit, child and adolescent psychiatry, occupational therapy, catering department, day services, other than surgical, and ICU-CCU.
The additional accommodation is a substantial addition to the original phase 2B proposal for which the project team was appointed. That accounts for a huge increase in expenditure. When one adds that to the fact that the Midland Health Board did not prioritise this project in its national development plan indicative funding of £124 million over the period 2000-06, it is quite clear that additional demands have now been placed on the Exchequer and the Government of the day. When we took up office in 1996 there was no allocation for phase 2B. That should be put on the record also. I do not think Deputies on the other side of the House can crow about the situation.
The House will also be aware that a national review of bed capacity in both the acute and non-acute sectors is under way on foot of the commitment by Government in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. The review is being conducted by the Department in conjunction with the Department of Finance and the social partners. It is primarily focused on the emerging need to increase bed capacity and to have a strategic framework in place in terms of the number of additional beds required in the short, medium and long-term. The findings of the review will be submitted to Government in the near future.
The Longford-Westmeath project is being fully considered and evaluated in the context of bed review capacity. I can assure Deputies that Senator Cassidy and the Minister for Public Enterprise, Deputy O'Rourke, have been vigorous in their representations on this issue on an ongoing basis.
They have not been very successful.