Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 March 2013
124. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Health the hospitals in the Dublin mid-Leinster Health Service Executive region covered in the small hospitals framework; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13789/13]
View answerI plan to publish, with Government approval, Securing the Future of Smaller Hospitals: A Framework for Development to offer clear information about the role of our smaller hospitals and what they will do in the future.
While the Framework focusses in particular on the role of nine smaller hospitals, named below, which have been the subject of particular attention from the HIQA, the principles behind it will apply to all smaller hospitals, regardless of whether or not they are specifically referenced.
Dublin North East:
- Our Lady’s Hospital Navan
- Louth County Hospital Dundalk
Dublin Mid Leinster:
- St. Colmcille’s Loughlinstown
South:
- Mallow
- Bantry
West:
- Ennis
- Nenagh
- St. John’s Limerick
- Roscommon County Hospital
In developing the framework to address the development of smaller hospitals, this Government is clear that:
- there is an important future role for smaller hospitals, in which they will provide services for more patients, not fewer
- no acute hospital will close, and
- safety issues in all acute hospitals, large or small, must be fully addressed, by providing the right type of service, for the right patient in the right setting.
This Framework will demonstrate clearly that the future of smaller hospitals is secure. It will set out what services can and should be delivered safely by these hospitals in the interest of better outcomes for patients.
