Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I too welcome the opportunity to contribute to this very important debate. It is essential we maintain a health service that can meet the needs of every citizen, young, old and in-between. There are new challenges in the current economic climate that must be met; there are cuts across many services. This raises the bar for all of us, politicians, the HSE and the clinicians and management teams in our hospitals, as we try to protect the vital services that our people depend on so much in the area of health.

I wish to acknowledge the massive contribution of the health professionals in our health service. In debates such as this we often hear the negative stories but there are many thousands of positive stories coming out of our hospitals and primary care teams on a daily basis. There are positive outcomes to health problems with which our citizens suffer. We often do not hear enough or talk enough about those positive outcomes.

Being from Waterford and the south-east region, my main concern is Waterford Regional Hospital. I heard Deputy Conway's contribution. Recently, some Opposition politicians have made serious charges about the cuts in the services at this hospital. Some of these charges are of a scaremongering type and they worry people who are already vulnerable because they are sick. I do not include Deputy Halligan whose contribution I heard yesterday. Although he expressed his concerns in a very measured and forceful way to the Minister, he did not engage in the scaremongering other politicians have engaged in in my constituency.

There are genuine concerns about the status of Waterford Regional Hospital which serves a region with a population of more than 500,000. We cannot have a regional hospital in every county. We hear about re-configuration, re-ordering and reform within the health system but it is important to prioritise our regional hospitals and give them the essential resources they require to meet the demands and needs of the citizens they serve. Politicians - I include myself - must be very careful because we can be used by vested interests to put forward their often hidden agendas. Sometimes people are opposed to reform and change. Lately documents have been leaked from Waterford Regional Hospital. These were merely unapproved draft documents but they are really worrying the citizens of the south east.

Our hospital services need strategic investment and there must be capacity building in the other hospitals that do less acute work. I understand consultations have taken place between HSE management and leading clinical managers in Waterford Regional Hospital regarding the health service plan 2012. That will mean reform and change and the re-ordering of services. However, it should also mean re-emphasis, re-enforcement and re-investment in new services. The accident and emergency unit in Waterford, which is always held up as an example of excellence, will get two new consultants, a new cardiologist, a new endocrinologist and an acute medicine physician. That is a great investment which I wish to acknowledge in the Dáil, especially at a time of recession. I hope we will see further investment of this kind.

There are challenges for all of us in this economic climate. I include clinical managers, hospital managers and politicians who must step up to the mark and not resist reform that is for the betterment of our citizens. We have less money now and more tightened resources and we must make better use of both to protect as far as possible the health service. The Minister has outlined his priorities. The special delivery units have already achieved good targets, raising the bar even further. The Minister has, for the first time, appointed a director within the HSE who will focus on mental health. I applaud and encourage this. He is focusing on greater access to primary care and, within a few years, free access to general practitioners for all. Ultimately, there will be universal health care access for all. It will be difficult but it is achievable. We need everybody to row in so we can have a more sustainable health system that is accessible and fair for all our people.

I have a final point. A palliative care unit for the south-east region is essential. Ours is the only region without one. More than €2 million has been raised locally. I appeal to the Minister and the HSE to try to make provision for a palliative care unit which has been promised for many years. It is an essential part of our health service.

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