Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What we want to achieve in healthcare, guided by the Sláintecare plan is essentially three things. We want healthcare to be affordable, that is, free at the point of use for a lot of people and affordable for everyone; access where people are getting healthcare in a timely manner; and we also want good patient outcomes. I am not satisfied with where we are with that as a country and I acknowledge that we have a lot more work to do and not just in the mid west region but across the country as well. People will bandy about a lot of different figures as to which region has the most beds, the least beds or which budget and I am not sure we always compare like with like when we do that. However, since December 2019, or roughly since this Government took office, we have seen a very big increase in investment in healthcare.

University Hospital Limerick, for example, has grown its workforce by more than 1,000 full-time staff since then, just two and a half years, and its budget has increased by 20%. A 96-bed inpatient ward block is under construction in Limerick. The Minister for Health turned the sod on that back in October. As I have indicated before, we need to start planning for further bed expansion in UHL because it will be needed.

In relation to Ennis, Nenagh and St. John’s hospitals, there has been a shift in policy. Our ambulance service is different from what it was ten or 12 years ago and we believe we can now safely bring patients directly to hospitals like Ennis, Nenagh and St. John’s if the patient is stable. That makes sense for many reasons I do not need to explain to Deputies. Unstable and severely ill patients go to the emergency department in Limerick while those who are sick but stable will go to Nenagh or Ennis. We acknowledge additional resources will be required in those centres if they are to see additional patients.

The medical assessment unit pathway for Nenagh came into force on Tuesday, 7 February and the pathway for Ennis Hospital came into operation on 9 January. The new pathway allows stable medical patients meeting agreed clinical criteria to be treated in the model 2 hospital rather than having to go to the emergency department in Limerick. We think that will make a positive change and a difference. It is envisaged that similar measures will be introduced in St. John’s Hospital in Limerick in the near future.

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