Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

I am delighted to contribute to this debate on the health services. Dialogue and open discussion is the way to reach a point where people become familiar with the changes and improvement in the health service.

I am a Deputy for Limerick city. I refer to the accident and emergency department of Limerick Regional Hospital whose staff do such good work. The Minister has established a special delivery unit and a report has been done on the hospital. The staff of this unit will work alongside existing management and staff to improve the service and to make it more efficient. This is not privatisation but seeks to bring about efficiencies by working hand in hand with existing staff and management and with the same reporting structures as in any other hospital.

The Minister is aware of my views on the situation in the mid west and in Limerick. In my view we are not getting our fair share of the pie. I refer to a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts on 29 September. The chief executive officer of the HSE, Mr. Cathal Magee, was in attendance and I put it to him that, since 2006, the per capita funding for the mid west has fallen by 5%. The mid west area of the HSE west region has seen a drop in funding of 13%. The average funding is €2,830 and the mid west now receives €2,709 with the HSE west region at €3,095. The average funding for the mid west has fallen by 5% and the overall funding to the HSE west region is 13% lower. Our allocation since 2006 has fallen as a percentage from 31.56% of the funding to 29.73%. This is 1.83% of a decrease. This may not seem to be a significant amount but a 1% decrease in funding equates to €21 million. That 1.83% is a reduction of €38 million in the allocation to the mid west as a percentage of the overall the HSE west region allocation in the past four to five years. I welcome the fact the Minister is carrying out an overall review of funding and how it is disbursed within the HSE. We must examine the practicalities of providing health care and how the HSE distributes funding. There are inequalities within the system and the mid west suffers in this regard and also Limerick Regional Hospital and St. John's which both provide a tremendous service to Limerick city.

I compare the funding given to Limerick Regional Hospital and to University College Hospital Galway, both of which are in the HSE west region. The funding to Limerick Regional Hospital has decreased by 7%. A 1% reduction equals €2.42 million. Funding to the Mid-West Regional Hospital has seen a decrease in funding of approximately €17 million. The special delivery unit will do vital work and bring about efficiencies but we must look at how the HSE works internally. Limerick city and the HSE west region overall are getting a raw deal. I look forward to the finalisation of the Minister's deliberations on the allocation of funding. I want to see how Mr. Cathal Magee and the HSE intends to deal with the issue of funding. I wish to acknowledge the great work of the health professionals, the nurses and staff in Limerick hospital in these difficult times but we are moving in the right direction.

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