Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on the motion, which I compliment Deputy Kelleher on tabling. Down through the years in my part of the west, we have been hearing about consultants and specialists being appointed and that they would be shared between hospitals. In my own area, this is usually between the hospitals at Ballinasloe, Galway and Roscommon. I am disappointed that the sharing of these posts does not seem to be of great benefit to the smaller hospitals, by which I mean the grade 3 and grade 2 hospitals, which seem to be forgotten about. The proposal was that, as well as sharing the work between the hospitals, many more procedures would be carried out in the smaller hospitals. I would like to see that happen and I am disappointed it has not happened to a fuller extent. This leads to uncertainty in the health service and leads to many meetings being called and demonstrations taking place.

One of the reasons for this is obviously that budgets in these hospitals have reduced, in particular in 2013 and 2014, and the indications for next year are not yet available. While there is a great effort by the HSE and the hospitals to keep down costs, I believe we are still not treating these hospitals fairly. Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe is a grade 3 hospital but a significant hospital nonetheless which serves the east midlands and the mid-west, and Mayo Hospital is in a similar position. These hospitals need extra staff and new equipment but there has been no response in recent times. Five years ago I attended the opening of a special care baby unit and an emergency department at Portiuncula Hospital but I do not believe I have seen the opening of any new services since then. This is particularly disappointing given there are applications to improve that grade 3 hospital.

There is an excellent hospital in Galway city, University College Hospital. While it has a fine budget, I wonder about its capacity to develop services when I see what is happening with the psychiatric services there. There was a 22-bed acute psychiatric unit at St. Brigid's Hospital in Ballinasloe but the beds were transferred to Galway, where there was already overcrowding. Ballinasloe was to get crisis beds but that has not happened. There is funding under the mental health budget but recruitment is an issue, although it should be happening.

There are also issues with the fair deal scheme, which I dealt with in a recent debate in the House. I was approached by the Roscommon home care co-operative society, a not-for-profit organisation that is involved in caring in three counties, Galway, Roscommon and Mayo. It was very concerned when it received correspondence from the HSE stating that, in providing services to private clients, it may be in breach of EU state aid regulations due to the potential for cross-subsidisation. I certainly do not understand what that is about or how cross-subsidisation could arise.

Deputy Keaveney and I both know the ambulance base in Tuam has been idle for some time. I welcome the fact the HSE service plan includes Tuam with Mulranny and Loughglynn but, again, there is a staffing issue. I hope staff will be recruited quickly because we need a 24-7 ambulance base in Tuam. HIQA has recognised this as a blackspot in the west region. We saw in media reports today that the HSE has admitted that urgently needed improvements in the ambulance services will now have to be delayed because of a lack of resources. That is a worrying situation because it refers to rural areas more than to those operating in the larger towns and cities.

The situation at Tuam would be dealt with by having 11 staff, as that number would be needed for a 24-7 hour service, but there is no staffing at present - that is the bottom line. The fact HIQA criticised the lack of co-operation between the national ambulance service and the Dublin fire brigade shows there are problems and challenges. In fact, it was noted that 14,000 calls a year to the brigade were left in a queue while it tried to source an ambulance from the national service.

I hope we can have work on that announcement about the ambulance service and that the Minister will take on board what Deputy Kelleher has said in proposing the motion.

See this speech in context