Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister for Health, I thank Deputies Fleming and Stanley for raising this issue. I think they will understand that the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, is unable to be here, unfortunately. As the Minister has previously said, there are no plans to close the emergency department at the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise. Following the Chief Medical Officer's report last January on maternity services in the hospital and a visit to the hospital by the HSE national surgical clinical programme, the HSE undertook a performance diagnostic to ascertain the current performance status of the hospital in all aspects of service provision. The report identified a number of issues and made key recommendations with regard to control, leadership and clinical services at the hospital. The report suggested that some services in the hospital need to be reconfigured to ensure patients are treated in the most appropriate setting by specialist staff who can meet their needs. The over-riding concern is to address any patient safety and quality concerns that arise.

The HSE is working through an action plan with the staff in the hospital to stabilise and improve services at the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise. Changes are required to enhance existing resources and structures at the hospital and to address clinical service deficiencies. A joint governance group has been established to ensure appropriate accountability and oversight of required actions and to incorporate the hospital into the existing governance structures within the Dublin and midlands hospital group, which includes St. James's Hospital and the Coombe, working in collaboration with the children's hospital group. A project team, which has been formed to support the work of the governance group, is in the hospital on a regular basis to support staff on the ground. Immediate actions to stabilise service provision include the appointment of an advanced nurse practitioner and the recruitment of a temporary consultant emergency physician to address the immediate senior decision-making issues within the emergency department. The filling of an additional physician post and replacement posts in endocrinology and care of the elderly is also being advanced.

The joint governance group will also examine the future service configuration at the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise, including emergency department services. It will explore opportunities to develop services like endoscopy and day surgery. Any potential future reconfiguration of services will be undertaken in a planned and orderly manner. It will take account of existing patient flows, demands in other hospitals and the need to develop particular services at Portlaoise in the context of overall service configuration in the Dublin and midlands hospital group. Recent media reports on the wider issue - the retention of funding for 24-hour emergency departments and the current number of beds across the system - were based on information in the Department's submission to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform under the Government's comprehensive review of expenditure exercise. This review exercise is carried out every three to four years. The last such review was completed in 2011. As the Department's submission under the current exercise is under consideration, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this point, other than to say it is currently not planned to implement measures contained in that submission.

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