Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. The HSE's plan is very clear, and it was spelled out in black and white, but it is just a plan. This is surprising because it has had 13 years to prepare it: nine years if one starts the clock from the small hospital framework. We are still none the wiser as to the Government's plan, and this includes the Minister's amendment here tonight. Frankly, this is disgraceful.

We are aware the HSE has a plan and Deputy Cullinane outlined some of the detail of that. It states it has legitimate concerns for safety but in my firm opinion the HSE's so-called solution will make matters worse. The concern is that in the region of 2,000 patients would present to Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, who the HSE believes should go directly to Drogheda.

The medical assessment unit that is proposed to deal with up to 90% of the patients currently presenting to Navan will not work. I want this on the record of the Dáil. It will not work because it is GP referral only. Our GPs are already overworked and overbooked during the day, and it is even worse at night. What will happen? If a person is ill at home, he or she will go to the door that will accept them. It will not be five a day or 2,000 a year. Up to 20,000 people per year would present at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. They may not be appropriate presentations, but they will be there and there is deep concern about this. We are hearing this spelled out in detail from clinicians on the front line. There is deep concern that those people who are currently presenting to Navan will all, or in very significant numbers, present to Drogheda and lead to worse outcomes and worse safety rather than better. I wish to spell this out clearly. We have heard from GPs and, while there are differences of opinion in the medical world, I believe that in practical terms this is exactly what will happen. I encourage the Minister to listen to that.

The suggestion that there is no alternative to this proposal is simply not the case. At the meeting last night, we heard from one clinician who said that the only alternative to this proposal was to quadruple capacity at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan and to turn it from a 107-bed hospital to a 400-bed hospital. The idea that no hospital could exist if it was not a 400-bed hospital is just outrageous. Within the medical profession, there is a belief that to bring Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, up to a model three hospital rather than downgrading it, it needs an extra emergency department consultant; two extra consultant surgeons; and two extra consultant anaesthetists. That is the proposal there and I believe the Minister should take it on board.

It is completely unacceptable that we have a clear proposal from the HSE that is scrambling. Anybody who attended that meeting last Monday in good faith could not be convinced that the HSE has a coherent plan to deliver a safe service for the people of County Meath. The ambition for increased capacity in the acute services was the subject of ongoing discussions. There was no clear plan for increased capacity in community or general practice. In fact, we heard that everybody has problems in terms of general practice.

I have had enough of Ministers in my county and at a senior level acting as observers and commentators. I heard it on LMFM and read it in the Meath Chroniclethat they are leaning one way and leaning towards closure, or they are leaning the other way and leaning towards keeping it open. It is simply unacceptable. We see the same here with the Minister's amendment. In effect, with the Government's amendment, the sword or the axe will continue to hang over Our Lady's Hospital in Navan. It is simply unacceptable. The Minister outlined that several important issues would have to be fully addressed. What does the Minister mean? What are the proposals and what is the plan for the hospital in Navan? I want to lay it fully on the agenda that the proposal from Sinn Féin is to retain the service and enhance the services at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan. That is the solution for it. There is no other credible alternative.

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