Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to place my thoughts concerning the future configuration of our hospital services clearly and categorically on the record of this House. I commend the new Minister for Health on not ducking the issues and not passing the buck which we saw with so many previous Ministers for Health. Where his predecessors chose to abdicate their responsibility, referring to the Department of Health as Angola, or, in the case of the current Fianna Fáil leader, to create a monstrous bureaucracy unaccountable to the people and their representatives, the Minister is determined to reform our health service, including areas that have long been ignored.

The Minister's hands-on and innovative approach to addressing the shortage of non-consultant hospital doctors is to be welcomed. I am sure we all hope these efforts will bear fruit. As other Members have said, this is an issue that has been ignored for far too long.

When it comes to health care and the well-being of my constituents, I will not take my lead or advice from the Sinn Féin party or, indeed, any political party, my own included. The people I want to hear from and those whom the public deserve to hear from are the clinicians who treat patients every day on the front line in hospitals. These are the medical experts who can correctly assert what is safe medical practice and what is not. They, rather than a political party, the HSE or any individual politician, have the qualifications, expertise and background to make life-saving decisions for my constituents.

Historically, my constituency of Wicklow has been the poor relation with regard to health services, despite the previous economic boom. We have no general hospital and have been dependent on travelling for medical treatment to other counties, such as Dublin, Kildare or even Wexford in some cases.

I was extremely angry, frustrated, annoyed and insulted to hear through newspapers and other media about the HSE's proposals to reconfigure services at St. Columcille's Hospital in Loughlinstown, County Dublin. This drip-feed of leaked information does not allow for a rational debate or consultation on proposals. It creates an environment of fear and of genuine worry among the public. Unfortunately, on occasions, it also creates an environment in which some politicians try to tap in to that genuine public concern.

Medical professionals in St. Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, and this also applies to the broader health services in County Wicklow, should hold a public information day when people could drop in to hear what services are on offer. They should be able to hear facts and figures without the political spin from any party.

They can see what services would be on offer under a changed system and how they would interact with people on a daily basis. I want to see plans for increased capacity at St. Vincent's University Hospital's accident and emergency department before any changes are introduced at St. Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown. We need a much improved ambulance service for County Wicklow, with ambulances located at the best possible point to serve people quickly and resourced with paramedics with all the necessary qualifications.

I agree with Deputy McDonald that we need to hear more about the roll out of primary care facilities in my constituency in Bray, Greystones, Arklow and Wicklow town. There have been far too many missed opportunities where primary care facilities have become glorified places in which general practitioners have rooms. They need to be much more than that, a desire which I know the Minister shares.

Deputy Crowe made a valid point in regard to after hour general practitioner services. This issues needs to be examined and I urge the Minister to do so in consultation with general practitioners in Wicklow and south Dublin in regard to St. Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown. Reforms at St. Columcille's Hospital are needed but no change should take place in isolation. It should happen as part of an overall package to co-ordinate services between St. Columcille's Hospital, St. Vincent's University Hospital and St. Michael's Hospital in Dún Laoghaire. St. Columcille's Hospital should be mandated to take the clinical lead in some areas of medical speciality. Reconfiguration equals change but must not equal downgrade. I welcome the Minister's comments in that regard.

I will continue to pursue these issues with the Minister over the coming weeks and months. I will support whatever service is deemed best not by my political opponents but by those with the qualifications and know-how to serve my constituents. I need to hear about how my constituents in County Wicklow, a county abandoned from a health point of view during the boom years, will fit into the roll out of primary care centres and indeed improved access to an ambulance service. It is extremely important, as we in this House wrestle control from an unaccountable HSE and restore accountability to this House, that the message goes out to the HSE tonight from all sides of this House that the leaking of information and the deciding of HSE proposals without consultation is not on.

There is a new sheriff in town. It is important that message is heard loudly and clearly by the HSE.

See this speech in context