Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. I support a policy of having more, rather than fewer, services. As in so many areas in this country we go overboard in following the lead of others in other jurisdictions in comparable matters, and that has been the experience of many people in many reconfigured arrangements currently in place. I could instance several such cases. We have heard today of the situation in Limerick regional hospital where overnight an exceptional number of patients were kept in wholly inappropriate settings. That cannot go on unchecked.

We have to recognise that there are other options. There are alternatives, in cases where certain ailments are present, to transporting such patients by ambulance to a so-called centre of excellence and bypassing existing facilities which have the capacity, trained staff and competency to deal with such situations. This has been acknowledged to me by hospital management and practitioners in critical hospital sites across the State.

I appeal to the Minister as a new mind with a fresh approach, as he has demonstrated in other areas, to look seriously at the potential of smaller hospitals to relieve the distress presenting at so many of the larger sites.

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