I welcome the opportunity to raise this matter. As the Minister of State and many Members of this House, and indeed of the Dáil, will be aware, the single most important issue as far as the people of County Carlow are concerned is the lack of a properly funded locally-based health service. Twenty-five years ago Carlow had a district hospital, a maternity hospital and a psychiatric hospital which catered not only for the people of Carlow and County Carlow but also for the people of County Kildare. Today Carlow still has a district hospital and, thankfully, a geriatric hospital, but the maternity hospital has been closed and the psychiatric hospital has lost the function of servicing the people of County Kildare. Indeed, under care for the psychiatric sector, acute psychiatric admissions are now taken to St. Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny.
Carlow people in urgent need of hospital treatment must travel 26 miles to the general hospital in Kilkenny, that is, St. Luke's Hospital. If they attend the regional hospital, they must travel further again to Waterford, which sometimes is a two hour drive from Carlow. As one of the few counties – there might be only one other – without the services of a general hospital, we are seeking immediate action on the part of the Minister and the Department to remedy this unacceptable position. All medical procedures, even minor ones, must be performed outside the county and all births, apart from home births, take place outside the county. Patients are directed to the regional hospital in Waterford to which it can take up to two hours to travel when it could take less than an hour to get to the fully functional and first class facility in Tallaght.
I welcome the Government's investment in health which has doubled since the Government came to power in 1997. While we do not have the luxury of a general hospital in County Carlow, every other county in the South Eastern Health Board region does. Wexford and Kilkenny have one and Waterford has a regional hospital. Tipperary South Riding, which is half a county, has two general hospitals, while we are a full county without the facility of one. We deserve better treatment than we receive. Perhaps the Minister of State will give a commitment in this regard.
The Department of Health and Children's primary health care strategy, on which I compliment the Minister and his Department, outlines that three diagnostic centres will be established throughout the State on a pilot basis. In welcoming this announcement, I ask the Minister of State to ensure that one of those centres is located in Carlow for all the reasons I have stated. The provision of such a centre would go some small way towards giving the people a limited health service along the following lines.
Blood tests taken by general practitioners in Carlow are sent to Waterford or Dublin for analysis and are returned a day or two later. Apart from the lack of locally-based facilities, these tests are being sent to places already extended beyond their limits and this increases the pressure on the services there. An ultrascan facility would also be part of the diagnostic service. Until now, patients in need of a gallbladder scan or similar scan have to go to Kilkenny, which takes a full day and places additional pressure on an already over-burdened service. While we have an X-ray facility, the provision of a diagnostic service would give us a new state-of-the-art X-ray unit. A DEXA scan facility for bone scanning would also be part of the diagnostic service.
The most important part of the centre would be day clinics, the provision of which would be very welcome to the people of Carlow. Appointments could be made locally, saving the South Eastern Health Board the cost of transporting patients to and from Kilkenny hospital. It would also save patients from the frustration they encounter there because of the length of time they must wait to meet consultants. Consultants and specialists would come to the centre to see their patients. This would be part of a one-stop-shop health facility for Carlow. I hope the Minister of State will assure us that he will look favourably on this.
The first doctors' out-of-hours co-operative service, Caredoc, was established in Carlow in June 1999. It was started on a pilot basis and has proved to be an outstanding success, with patients and providers taking advantage of its merits. This out-of-hours service has been duplicated throughout the country and it is hoped every area will have access to this service by the end of 2003.
We in Carlow have a proven track record of delivering when we are given the chance and the resources. We have proved we have the expertise by the establishment of the out-of-hours co-op service. All we need is the opportunity and the Minister of State's commitment to our small county. I hope he and his Department will not let us down on this occasion.