Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)

Today the committee will consider a review of urgent and emergency health care services in the mid-west. I welcome from Ms Angela Fitzgerald, chief executive, HIQA and her team, who have joined us this morning.

For too long, access to healthcare has been a postcode lottery across the country with some regions being left behind. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the mid-west.

While investment has undoubtedly increased in recent decades, the decades of underinvestment and poor policy decisions have really plagued this region. When it comes to the reconfiguration of the health services in the mid-west it is now widely accepted that they have been a failure. Accident and emergency departments in Ennis and Nenagh hospitals and at St. John's Hospital in Limerick were closed without the recommended bed capacity in University Hospital Limerick, UHL. There was a review in 2008 that made clear the closure of these accident and emergency departments should not occur without the capacity of 642 inpatient beds in UHL but the accident and emergency departments in Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Hospital were closed with only 375 inpatient beds in UHL. Only this year has UHL finally reached the bed capacity that was recommended 17 years ago. That recommendation has been outstripped by demographic changes. It is important to note this. As people will know, UHL is now consistently the most overcrowded hospital in the country. Just yesterday there were 96 patients without a bed in the hospital. This was the highest in the country by some distance. Furthermore, since the reconfiguration HSE Mid West is the only region without a model 3 hospital. All other health regions have at least two model 3 hospitals, if not three or four. Addressing these capacity constraints and regional disparities in the mid-west must be a priority. That is why we decided to have this meeting to consider this issue this morning, particularly in the context of the report being published and the pending decision from the Minister. This issue has been deferred for far too long and must be dealt with. This is why it is important to have this session this morning.

I am delighted to welcome HIQA to give their opening statement on the matter.