Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I support this Private Members' motion on hospital trolleys. I also welcome the approval for the 40-bed modular unit for South Tipperary General Hospital announced last year. That unit is expected to be up and running before the end of autumn 2018. The county lost 90 beds in various cutbacks, including 50 beds when St. Vincent's hospital in Tipperary town was closed. We need another 50 beds in the county to cater for the demand for health services. We hope this will be addressed in the capital programme to be announced shortly.

Step-down and hospice facilities are vital to deal with the trolley issue. The Minister visited St. Theresa's District Hospital in Clogheen in September last year. There is a proposal for additional hospice room and step-down facilities in the hospital, for which the Minister indicated his support. That development was spearheaded by a local family whose father had passed away at the hospital. Massive fundraising activities took place with friends, neighbours, local and surrounding communities involved. Up to €400,000 was collected by the local community through Boston Scientific, the Friends of St. Theresa's Hospital and South Tipperary Hospice Movement. Plans for the development have been drawn up and approved. Planning permission has been granted and tenders have been advertised, submitted and approved. The builder has been appointed. This development is shovel-ready with €400,000 available for it. It would help deal with the overcrowding in the accident and emergency department of South Tipperary General Hospital.

We need the Minister and the Department to come in behind that development and to fund its balance. Hopefully the capital programme, which I understand the Minister is about to announce in the next couple of weeks, will provide for this development at St. Theresa's Hospital, which is a very important local project, fronted by the local people, families and the local community. It is well worth supporting and we certainly hope that will be supported in the capital programme.

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