Vol. 285 No. 1
asked the Minister for Health if he has yet made any decision on the status of Roscommon County Hospital in the future general hospital reorganisation programme; and if he is aware that circumstances have now arisen which make such a decision a matter of urgency.
28.
asked the Minister for Health if he will postpone his decision on the hospitalisation facilities of the State until the statistics following the next census become available.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions Nos. 27 and 28 together.
Deputy Gibbons will be aware that details of the national hospital plan have now been announced.
In relation to the Western Health Board area, it has been decided that, in addition to hospitals at Galway and Castlebar, there should be a federation of Roscommon County Hospital and Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, the working of the federation to be reviewed after a trial period.
Because of the need to take early decisions on planning hospitals, I did not consider it desirable to defer a decision on the national hospital plan until the results of the next census had been announced.
The Minister is aware that the county surgeon and county physician are due to resign just now and I should like to know if any proposals have been submitted by the Western Health Board for the immediate staffing of the hospital?
Yes, I think so. Comhairle na nOspidéal will determine whether or not the vacancies will be filled. Needless to remark I believe the vacancies will be filled.
Will the Minister guarantee that the vacancies will be filled on a permanent basis?
That is a matter for Comhairle na nOspidéal but I do not have any information from them on that matter. I assume they will make a recommendation now.
How would that fit in with the federation with Ballinasloe when there may be no permanent staff in the county hospital in Roscommon?
I did not say there would not be a permanent appointment in Roscommon but the Deputy raised the matter as to whether or not it would be permanent or temporary.
If this is a matter for Comhairle na nOspidéal, surely the Minister is not in a position now to state whether the appointment will be permanent or temporary?
No, no more than I would be in respect of any vacancy or appointment. The law gives Comhairle na nOspidéal the power to determine what consultants there should be and where they should be located.
Can we take it that there will be a permanent staff in Roscommon County Hospital?
Nothing has been finalised yet.
I am only concerned with one particular facet of the matter.
I will stick my neck out now; I assume there would be a permanent appointment.
The Minister referred to the fact that the national general hospital plan had been announced but in the copy of that which I received there was no mention of any financial projections. Some of the Minister's more adulatory apologists mentioned a figure of £68 million but there was no figure in the document.
I do not remember whether it was in the document.
From whence did these adulatory apologists receive this figure which was not made available to Deputies?
We are having an extension of the scope of the question.
The Minister mentioned the plan.
That may be so but the Chair is concerned about the question before the House. This is a widening of the scope of the matter altogether.
The Deputy will accept that these hospitals are not going to be built or extended in the next few years. The cost I mentioned is in respect of present day charges. I cannot say, and I am sure the Deputy could not say, what they might be when the full hospital programme is completed. Needless to remark, it will be done in a phased system. As far as the availability of money is concerned, it will be determined by the condition of the present hospital and the urgency for the establishment of a bigger hospital.
Would the Minister confirm that the national development programme for general hospitals has not been financially quantified?
It has, yes. In present day terms, yes.
The national programme may not be debated here today.
The whole programme——
We cannot have a discussion on that wide matter today.
Yes, including Dublin.
The whole programme——
The Deputy is widening the scope of the discussion. We cannot have a discussion on this general matter today.
If the Deputy has not the figures in his documentation, I will give him the present day prices for all the hospitals in Dublin and in the country.
It would be preferable if the Minister would treat the Opposition seriously in this matter and give us these figures and not feed them out through some back door to friendly correspondents.
The Deputy need not be so tetchy. I will give him all the information I can.
Next question.
