I thank the Senator for raising this matter which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney. I am aware of the importance attached by people to local and regional maternity hospitals that have a certain critical mass of throughput. I am glad to be able, for once, to give the Senator what I believe she will find to be a reassuring reply.
The Government is committed to ensuring the delivery and maintenance of the best quality health service possible and in providing the highest standard of patient care in an effective and efficient way within the resources allocated. Ensuring patient safety is of paramount importance so that people can have confidence in their health services and the best possible patient outcomes can be achieved.
The HSE has no plans to withdraw or scale down maternity services at Portiuncula Hospital. The Minister is confident that Portiuncula will continue to play a key role in the provision of acute hospital services for the population which it serves. Portiuncula is an acute general and maternity hospital which operates as a constituent part of the HSE's western region. It provides a comprehensive range of acute, diagnostic and support services for adults and children in the catchment areas of east Galway, Roscommon, north Tipperary, Offaly and Westmeath. The hospital has a total of 210 beds — specifically, 196 inpatient and 14 day care beds. Portiuncula has a budget allocation of €47.8 million for 2009. It benefits from a committed workforce that, throughout this year, is projected to treat 11,000 inpatients, 6,700 day patients, 21,200 emergency department attendances and manage 2,320 deliveries in the maternity unit. In addition, this year the hospital will deal with just under 40,000 outpatient attendances. The hospital has strong partnerships with colleagues in the primary, community and continuing care sectors and aims to provide patients with fully integrated services.
The number of births at Portiuncula up to the end of September 2009 was 1,678, up by 2.9% on the 1,631 figure in the equivalent period in 2008. A number of capital developments have taken place or are in train in maternity hospitals and units in recent years, including Portiuncula. The HSE recently invested €2 million in that hospital's maternity services with the development of a new special care baby unit which opened in October 2009 to provide additional intensive care cot and high dependency cots. The hospital has just established a dedicated early pregnancy unit in the outpatient department. This provides direct access for women who require intervention in the early stages of pregnancy. Previously, these patients would have had to attend the emergency department. This service is of direct benefit to these vulnerable patients and has helped to alleviate pressure in this department.
These developments come on top of funding that the HSE committed to upgrade the hospital's emergency department in the summer of 2009 and to overhaul the oncology day unit and the physiotherapy department in 2007. They serve to illustrate the commitment consistently shown by the Government to the strengthening of appropriate services at Portiuncula. I am happy to reiterate that there are no plans to close or scale down maternity services and that the Government continues to see a very important role for the hospital as part of a high quality service to the population of the region.
