James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputies for raising this important issue. The urgent care centre now in place in Roscommon operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week and is provided by non-consultant hospital doctors with clinical governance provided by the emergency medicine consultant in Galway. In addition, a medical assessment operates at the hospital and there is an out-of-hours GP service is in operation.

The changes at Roscommon were necessitated by the serious patient safety concerns of the HSE and HIQA. The accident and emergency service situation at Roscommon followed the publication of the authority's report on Mallow General Hospital in April 2011 and this was compounded by of NCHD recruitment difficulties. The Deputy knows how many meetings were held with the various medical, surgical and emergency department experts to see if there was any way around this. None could be found so my hand was forced, unhappily but without choice.

Data from the HSE indicate that since the change of Roscommon's emergency department to an urgent care centre, the number of patients referred each day to other hospitals has been very low. The most recent data for ambulance calls in the Roscommon catchment area show that less than two patients on average per day were brought to Galway and Portiuncula hospitals.

Even fewer patients were brought by ambulance to Mullingar, Sligo or Mayo hospitals.

While I do not accept that opening the urgent care centre at Roscommon on a 24 hour basis would address the difficulties experienced from time to time at Galway University Hospital emergency department, I am committed to ensuring that problems experienced at emergency departments in Galway and elsewhere are addressed.

In recent months I have established the special delivery unit, SDU, under the leadership of Dr. Martin Connor. The SDU is working to unblock access to acute services by improving the flow of patients through the system. It is focusing initially on emergency departments and will be working to support hospitals in addressing excessive waiting times for admission to hospital.

I am also committed to the future of Roscommon and to other smaller hospitals. There was a safety issue. I absolutely concur with the sentiment expressed in the Deputy's question. Why does someone needing two sutures need to go to Galway? I ask why someone needing two sutures needs to go to hospital in the first instance. Why is the GP not suturing? That is what I was trained to do as a GP.

With regard to media reports, it is my understanding that people were asked to stay away from Galway University Hospital unless they were acutely or seriously ill. This was because there was such overcrowding at the hospital. There were 32 people on trolleys on the Saturday morning. By mid-afternoon the number had reduced to the mid-teens, by 6 p.m. it was down to ten and by 8 p.m. it was down to five.

There are problems in Galway and Limerick and in other hospitals around the country. There are difficulties with work practices. Difficulties have arisen because people have not done what was asked of them. Day surgeries that should have moved from larger to smaller hospitals, such as Roscommon and Portiuncula, did not do so. That problem is being addressed.

I understand that a plastic surgery outpatient clinic began last week in Roscommon and that the first plastic surgery will take place next week, with a new plastic surgeon. I welcome her return to Roscommon. She is Ms Deirdre Jones and I believe she is from Roscommon originally.

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