Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The situation, as the Deputy knows, starts and ends with patient safety. The Deputy and I heard directly at that meeting from national clinical directors and the clinical director for Navan. What they said to us is that a small number of people from Meath attend that hospital per day, perhaps as low as five, and because it is a small hospital with a small emergency department, those patients are at risk in a significant way. We all accept that those clinicians are giving us that advice only in consideration of patient safety and that we must all have that first and foremost in our minds.

As was raised and covered at the meeting, concerns are being raised about making sure that if those patients were to be transferred to the much bigger emergency department in Drogheda, there are resources in place to deal with it. This is not a debate about only Navan hospital. We need to consider both hospitals and make sure everything is in place. Whatever is done, the Deputy can rest assured that it will begin and end with patient safety in mind, with which I am sure the Deputy will agree.

See this speech in context