Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and congratulate him on his new position as Minister for Health. I wish him every success in the interests of the people of this country, who depend on our health service. Essentially, I am calling today on the Minister to reverse the plans for the downgrading of the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise that are being considered by the HSE regional manager. She has produced a plan to reduce the services provided at Portlaoise to the level associated with a model 2 or category 2 hospital. Such an approach, as set out in the draft plan referred to by the Minister, would mean that a full accident and emergency service would not be available at Portlaoise into the future. If that were to happen, we would not have a proper paediatric or maternity unit in the hospital because such units require the presence of a full-time accident and emergency department. As the Minister knows, the hospital in Portlaoise has one of the busiest accident and emergency departments outside the major cities of this country. Up to 35,000 people attend it every year. People who need urgent treatment might not be able to make the journey to Dublin, Naas or Tullamore. This will put lives at risk. Patient safety must come first. Everybody knows that the accident and emergency unit in Portlaoise is overcrowded and that additional staff are required to deal with this situation. The HSE's approach, which involves trying to curtail services rather than upgrading them, is a dangerous one.

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