asked the Minister for Health if he is yet in a position to state his decision on the future of Macroom, Millstreet and Skibbereen Hospitals; and, if so, what is the nature of the decision.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Cork Hospitals.
6.
There are district hospitals at Macroom, Millstreet and Skibbereen. The question of the future of these hospitals has not been raised with me and, consequently, I presume these are not the hospitals to which the question refers.
In addition to the district hospital there is, at each of these centres, a small hospital originally provided as a fever hospital but more recently used to accommodate tuberculosis patients. They have been closed for the past few years and are not now required for fever hospital, sanatorium or district hospital purposes, but the hospital at Millstreet has been designated for use in the event of an outbreak of smallpox.
The Cork Health Authority have proposed that the hospitals at Macroom and Skibbereen, formerly used for tuberculosis patients, with bed capacities of 20 and 24 respectively, be used to accommodate persons normally accommodated in county homes.
I have previously indicated the reasons for my reluctance to approve such a use for small hospital units.
The whole question of hospital facilities for the city and county of Cork is one of considerable complexity. The position is affected by the changing pattern of health needs exemplified by the decline in bed needs for the treatment of fevers and tuberculosis. Already a certain degree of rationalisation has been achieved. The hospital at Gurranebraher, which was planned as a fever hospital, has been brought into use as an Orthopaedic Hospital with about 200 beds. The former sanatorium at Heatherside is used to accommodate about 180 suitable patients discharged from the Mental Hospital. Mount Desert Hospital, also formerly used for tuberculosis patients, is now a hospital for nearly 70 chronic sick. I look to the newly established Health Authority, which is now responsible for health services in Cork City and County, to evolve a well-considered hospital plan to cover effectively and economically the needs of the entire area.
The future of the hospital buildings not now in the use in the three centres mentioned in the question is one of the matters to be taken into account in a comprehensive review of the needs of the area.