Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If the Minister does not mind, I will go off track for a second to discuss diabetes services at Mullingar regional hospital. He has been in touch about this matter. In recent days, Professor Michael O'Grady confirmed to parents that the hospital's plans to recruit a temporary nurse had failed to materialise and that, even if a temporary nurse was available, the only way the service could resume would be with appropriate permanent resources. The service cannot resume based on promises. All March appointments were cancelled in mid-February and cancellations for April appointments will issue next week. Will the Minister of State liaise with Professor O'Grady, who goes above and beyond for the 130 children and adolescents affected, and intervene to sort out this issue?

I compliment and thank all front-line workers. The day before yesterday, I received a letter from a GP in my area who wrote seeking my support in respect of a matter of great urgency. The GP in question has worked in County Meath for the past eight years and this was to be a momentous week for that individual's practice and patients in that, after weeks of planning, the practice was due to receive delivery of its first batch of Covid-19 vaccines for administration the following day to patients aged 85 years and over. Unfortunately, the practice did not receive its batch despite confirmation over the phone the day before and a practice at the opposite end of the car park receiving its batch. The GP is extremely disappointed, to say the least. The previous few days had been spent contacting patients and arranging appointments only to have to cancel everything that afternoon. The cohort of patients in question are the GP's most elderly and vulnerable. In the main, they have not left their homes for the past 12 months and were mostly reliant on family members to transport them to the clinic the next day, many of whom had made special arrangements to facilitate that. As is always the way with this group of patients, they were understanding and supportive and did not complain when they received news that afternoon of the cancellations. The GP says that this situation is not good enough, though. The GP would be the first to say that, in the past 12 months, the HSE had been largely supportive of general practice and worked excellently with the practice in question to try to get through the pandemic. Unfortunately, the lack of communication in recent weeks regarding the vaccination roll-out has disappointed the GP, culminating in significant frustration the morning the letter was written.

Will the Minister of State let me know what is happening with the paediatric clinic in Mullingar? I thank her for her engagement in the matter.

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