Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My question is about convalescent beds and the policy regarding University Hospital Galway and discharge. Prior to the Easter recess a letter had regrettably been sent out to nursing home providers seeking tenders for convalescent beds. This came as a shock because the letter stated that the beds had to be within a 30 km radius of University Hospital Galway. Galway is broad and diverse and not all of the nursing homes fell inside that particular commuter belt. Fair deal and convalescent care was all about the patient having choice. We have a great selection of both private and public nursing homes right throughout the county, but a good number of them are outside the 30 km belt. They feel disenfranchised by this letter, and that the patient choice was being eroded. The private providers had nursing homes built in the community. They had invested in the community and created jobs, as well as creating a choice for the patient to convalesce with their own families. That is what the families had wanted.

I need to know what the HSE policy is. I know a letter had issued in 2012 on this topic, and the letter that came out in March 2017 was quite a shock to people. They need to know where the HSE is going with this sort of policy. I know it has been withdrawn since, but in actual fact it is a comfort withdrawal. We need to know what the policy is. Are letters like this only issued in Galway or was it right across the country?

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