Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I am a resident of Ratoath in County Meath. My local hospital is Navan and I have been supportive of the Save Navan Hospital Committee for the past number of years and will continue to be so, not just because I am on this side of the House. It is fundamental to Government policy to provide quality health services in this country.

The concern about the state of the health care system has reached a slow bowling point in the country over recent days. The delivery of health care consistently ranks among the top three issues the electorate want policymakers and politicians to address. Lately, it is increasingly intertwined with the growing worries about Ireland's economic insecurities. High costs, gap ridden coverage and sporadic quality are the health care problems that most Irish citizens talk about, yet Sinn Féin wants to keep all the policy discussions focused on coverage, which is disingenuous.

To ensure the other problems are not forgotten and that delivering system reform is central to his plans, the Minister, Deputy Reilly, set up the special delivery unit. It is charged with promoting quality, efficiency and patient centredness in a high performing health system that the people of this country have been promised and are waiting on for many years. Reconfiguration and the old HSE plans for hospitals are null and void. They are definitely not our plans.

The long-term plans for our smaller hospitals will deliver extended day surgery, expertise in particular areas, much-needed capacity and doctor-led services. We need our smaller hospitals now more than ever. We need patient-led services, more capacity and the expertise that we get in our smaller regional hospitals, but most of all we need them to be safe. Let us be very clear about that.

We are currently experiencing, as we have for many years in the past, a non-consultant hospital doctor shortage. I welcome the Minister's recent move to address this issue to ensure it does not keep cropping up time and again. Temporary registration, the new two-year contract term, the new training programmes and the new supervisory roles are all very welcome and show the Minister's intelligent approach to dealing with the issue.

Deputy Ó Caoláin said yesterday that the right to access safe health care should not be reliant on one's purse or geographical position. To an extent I agree with him, but I am very happy that the priority and concern of the Government is to defend patients and ensure their safety when they are most vulnerable.

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