Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and am pleased that, although he has again confirmed that the plan is to close St. Fintan's Hospital, plans are afoot for a new unit to be built on the hospital's grounds. However, we all know that it will take some time. In these straitened times, it may not happen. It is still some way off, as it has not gone through the planning process yet.

We are discussing care of the elderly in three institutions - Abbeyleix, Shaen and St. Fintan's Hospital - in County Laois. The problem is that St. Fintan's Hospital is under the HSE's hospital division whereas the other two institutions are under its community care division, and ne'er the twain shall meet. When the HSE carried out consultations on care of the elderly, zero reference was made to St. Fintan's Hospital because it was handled by a different wing. It is almost as if the divisions were separate organisations. There is only one HSE, only one Department of Health and only one body responsible for dealing with these institutions. The artificial division in the HSE, whereby the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, deals with one group of people while the Mental Health Commission deals with another, is insufficient.

At the beginning of the consultation process, the HSE suggested to me that some of the patients in the hospital in Shaen could move into St. Fintan's Hospital. Given there is a closure order on the latter, some of the staff and residents, who need the level of professional care to which they have been accustomed, could move to the facilities in Shaen while others could move to Abbeyleix. Under the HSE's capital plan, funding is made available for equipping a Respond! community accommodation facility in Abbeyleix so residents could be relocated from St. Fintan's Hospital. There are background plans to transfer patients from the hospital. I ask that it be done. It would have the benefit of securing the issue.

I apologise to the Ceann Comhairle for my outburst 12 months ago on the closure of the facilities at Abbeyleix and Shaen, which was mooted last November. Using the staff of St. Fintan's Hospital to care for their designated patients would provide the ideal solution to retaining those community nursing homes. There would be no need to discuss their future closure.

Before the Minister and his senior departmental officials make a final decision, they should consider St. Fintan's Hospital in conjunction with the Shaen and Abbeyleix situations and not take an isolated decision. The three institutions should be considered collectively.

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