James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. He has outlined the considerable improvements in Cavan General Hospital, including the expansion of the renal dialysis unit from ten to 18 stations in 2011, thus enabling patients to access dialysis locally instead of having to travel to Dublin three times a week. The paediatric assessment unit opened in July 2011, with 5,000 patients assessed and treated in a dedicated facility by a dedicated paediatric staff instead of being seen in the ED. The was also the infrastructural expansion of the ED in 2010, the genitourinary medicine clinic developed in Monaghan Hospital, supported by Co-operation and Working Together, CAWT, and the development of the stroke unit. The care of stroke in this country has been transformed in the past 18 months through the clinical programmes and I congratulate everybody involved. It now means that we are either saving a life or preventing somebody from going to into long-term care every single day. We have gone from the bottom of the league in Europe for use of thrombolysis, the clot-busting drug, to the very top in a short period. That is a real credit to all concerned.

I congratulate the staff in the ED too and I am not being smart when I say that I congratulate everybody in the hospital because the ED operates only if the whole hospital operates properly and people can be admitted quickly when they need to be admitted and not left languishing in the ED. That requires great co-operation from the staff up the house as well. It also requires proper integration with community services so that people can get into long-term care when they need it, or get the home care package they need. Nobody wants to go into long-term care before they really need to. The cystic fibrosis area developed in the outpatient suite is a huge boon too because it means that patients do not have to worry about cross-infection. Cavan General Hospital has done a fantastic job of delivering quality care across an increased range of services and while the fabric is 25 years old and we would like to modernise it, the most important point is that patients today receive a safe, efficient service from very dedicated professionals.

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