Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Moynihan. He has been a passionate advocate for a greater role for our level 2 and level 3 hospitals to take the pressure off our level 4 hospitals and the point he made is very good. It is policy and we need to look at what more we could do. As the Deputy knows, I visited Roscommon. There is huge potential, and not just in terms of the endoscopy unit which we opened there, to take scope procedures from some of the larger hospitals and drive the traffic of patient flow into that hospital. We also have a stroke rehabilitation unit underway and plans for the hospice there. I agree that the future for our smaller hospitals is extraordinarily important. We are going to look at the opening hours of local injury units and the minor assessment units. If they can be open for longer to alleviate the pressure on our accident and emergency departments, that would seem to me to be a sensible idea. Merlin Park University Hospital-----

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