asked the Minister for Health the steps he is taking to have the new maternity unit at St. John of God Hospital, Ennis, County Clare, opened.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ennis Hospital Maternity Unit.
11.
As the Deputy is aware, the maternity unit at the St. John of God Hospital, Cahercalla, was completed early last year and the question of opening that unit depends upon the ability of the Mid-Western Health Board finding the necessary finances and personnel resource by redeployment. I have suggested an option to the board in this respect.
The Minister will be aware that this is a totally unsatisfactory situation where a unit which cost in excess of £½ million and which has been completed almost a year is not being used while, at the same time, in the county hospital in Ennis there is severe overcrowding——
A Question, please.
——and many patients are in beds in the corridor. The Minister will be aware that the opening of the maternity wing in Cahercalla would relieve that congestion and resolve some of the problems in the general hospital. Would he at this stage consider discussing the matter again with the Mid-Western Health Board with a view to making additional resources available for this unit to be reopened?
In view of the very substantial cost involved in opening the unit, which would require a total of 21 additional personnel including an anaesthetist and 14 nurses who would have to be appointed at a cost of £14,000, I have recommended to the health board a particular measure which would release at least part of the resources needed to open the unit. The board have not yet come back to me on my suggestion.
The reason the health board did not come back to the Minister is that they cannot get agreement on the proposal he put to them and it is unlikely that his recommendation will be carried through. Therefore it is unlikely the unit will be open.
I would ask the Deputy to refrain from making a speech or giving information.
There is a chronic problem here as the Minister is aware in the county hospital——
The Deputy is ignoring the Chair. He is proceeding as if the Chair had not intervened. The Deputy should not make a speech, he should ask a question.
I am asking the Minister if in view of what I said he will have another look at the situation and have a meeting with the health board to see if this difficult problem can be resolved. This situation cannot be allowed continue much longer.
I would like to see this maternity unit in Cahercalla opened. It will cost £400,000 a year to provide these beds. I made a proposal to the health board as to how they could provide at least part of the money to open the unit. This is a perennial problem. It appears that at the end of the day the Minister for Health is personally running the health services. If this is so, why have we the health boards? Are they doing the job they were set up to do? We have a plethora of chief executive officers and programme managers around the country but every time we make a suggestion they send it back to Dublin wanting to know our decisions. In that regard, I have made clear suggestions as to how I think they could do things but unfortunately most health boards do not respond and then they turn around and blame Dublin for everything.
A final supplementary.
The Minister says he is running the health services on his own. He told us he sent an option to the health board which they are having difficulty accepting. I believe it is within the terms of reference of the health boards that they should be telling the Minister how they will deal with this maternity unit in Cahercalla and the Minister should accept their view.
No.
The Minister wants the board to rubber-stamp his decision.
The only thing the health boards want is more money and soft options.
The Minister wants them to rubber-stamp his decisions.
No, I do not. They want the easy way out; more people, more money and that will solve everything, but it does not give a better health service.