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

Sorry, but seeing as the Deputy has raised his voice in this debate, let us be clear about this. It was Deputy Kelleher's Government that reconfigured those hospitals and put the horse behind the cart instead of the other way around by closing facilities before new facilities were built. It left it to the next Government to clean up the mess.

Deputy O'Donovan made reference to unannounced visits which is something that HIQA does already and will continue to do. It has done it with other hospitals and the Deputies will see the results of that in reports published today on other hospitals.

Change is always challenging and difficult and people feel threatened by it occasionally but I believe the changes we are introducing vis-à-visthe hospital group will devolve more authority and autonomy locally, giving local people a much greater say in how their service is configured and delivered. I believe that is important. I will finish by assuring Deputies that we will expedite all of those issues that can be expedited, some of which were not raised today but are contained in this report - particularly the issue of the use of the model two hospitals and their staff. The aim is to ensure that we have a safe service. In that context, the report does not say that this is unsafe service but rather that there are risks that must be addressed. We will do everything we can to address those risks as quickly as possible. I, as a doctor and Minister for Health, do not want to see patients suffering.

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