Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I take this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney.

The Deputy's question assumes that there is to be a withdrawal of surgical services at Mullingar hospital. The Minister has been advised by the HSE that at present there are no plans to relocate surgical services from Mullingar hospital to Tullamore hospital. Decisions on the allocation of resources and the prioritisation of service provision at regional level are a matter for the HSE.

The Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar is part of the Dublin-midlands hospital group. The aim of the hospital is to deliver a quality driven, people centred service to the population of Dublin and the midlands and in particular the Longford-Westmeath area. The hospital in Mullingar operates on a 24 hour, seven day week basis.

Mullingar hospital, in common with all other agencies, is required to manage its services within the approved allocation and to run its services within the approved employment ceiling. The hospital has been recognised as being one of the most efficient in the country in the context of the annual case mix adjustment.

Patient safety is of paramount concern to the HSE across the hospital system. An issue which is currently being addressed by the HSE which is relevant to this situation is a shortage of junior doctors, or non-consultant hospital doctors, that exists in some parts of the country. This situation may become more acute in some areas from early July. A recruitment drive for a new intake of non-consultant hospital doctors is under way and a number of other initiatives are being considered so as to ensure that hospitals continue to offer a high level of care to all patients. Given that this recruitment process is still ongoing, it is too early to say which hospitals and what parts of the country might be affected and to what degree.

However, local management are working with clinical directors in a planned way to devise contingency arrangements which can be implemented in hospitals if and as required. The HSE is also putting in place a number of processes to address the issues contributing to this difficulty on a short, medium and long-term basis.

The Minister remains confident that the issues referred to above will be addressed by the HSE and that services at the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar will continue to be designed to deliver the best and most appropriate services to all of its patients.

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