Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know that the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary is taking this on behalf of the Minister for Health but I also know he will be well aware of the ongoing challenges and issues with healthcare in the mid-west. I have not tabled this Commencement Matter to look for a 24-hour consultant-led emergency department at Ennis Hospital. In the engagement the health committee had recently with all the stakeholders, including unions and medical professionals, none of them were looking for that, and neither, obviously, was the HSE. People want increased services in Ennis Hospital, which makes complete sense because if we can move non-critical healthcare services from UHL to places like Ennis, it will make a huge difference.

I have raised here on a number of occasions the need for a dialysis unit in Ennis. I tabled a Commencement matter on this as recently as three weeks ago. We were told the earliest it would happen was 2025. There are at least 70 or 80 people from County Clare who travel in a taxi, some leaving places like the Burren and spending two hours to get to Limerick, and then have to get their dialysis for another six hours. It takes another two hours to travel home. If that service was available in Ennis, it would cut a significant amount of time off their journey. That is one example. I spoke to someone recently who had to have some cardiovascular work as an outpatient. They were travelling into UHL and could not get parking so they missed their appointment as a consequence. There is no excuse for that type of thing when we have the capability to increase capacity at Ennis Hospital. It has the minor injuries clinic and a number of other services and supports but there is so much more that could be done which would free up space in the main hospital in Dooradoyle in Limerick. What are the plans? What are the short-term, medium-term and, indeed, long-term plans to scale up non-critical care services in Ennis Hospital?