Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Faraor géar, tá orm an t-ospidéal sa Chlochán a ardú arís. Tá a fhios ag an Aire Stáit go bhfuil sé faoi bhagairt agus i mbaol le beagnach dhá bhliain anois. An rud a chuireann isteach orm ná go bhfuil sé dúnta faoi láthair agus ní bhfuaireamar aon teachtaireacht beag ná mór faoi. Chualamar ar na meáin chumarsáide go raibh an t-ospidéal dúnta arís. Is ospidéal é atá thar a bheith tábhachtach don cheantar mar is eol don Aire Stáit. Tá an scéal seo ag dul ar aghaidh le beagnach dhá bhliain anuas. Bhí neart cruinnithe agus neart cumarsáide, ach ag an am céanna, tá an chumarsáid ag teastáil. Mar a dúirt mé, níl aon eolas agamsa ach amháin go bhfuil sé dúnta agus tá an t-eolas sin agam ó na meáin chumarsáide. Chomh maith le sin, tá sé deacair a thuiscint cad iad na fáthanna go bhfuil sé dúnta. Deirtear gur easpa foirne is cúis leis ar leibhéal amháin. Ansin, deirtear linn go bhfuil painéal acu ó thaobh altairí de ach amanta eile, agus tá sé seo tábhachtach, go bhfuil siad ag fanacht ar chead ón Rialtas le daoine a earcú. I am back again. We are into our second year now. Different colleagues has raised this at different times. We thought we had made some progress regarding Clifden District Hospital. There were meetings and one particularly fruitful meeting in Clifden where we sat down with the previous woman who has retired. It was extremely fruitful and positive. We thought we were getting some place. As we headed out of that meeting we got a prewritten press release that confirmed they were closing the hospital. That meeting sticks out in my mind. It is over a year ago now. As we went out the door we heard. The previous wonderful two-hour meeting was all at naught and then we had more meetings.

My point is I am raising the fact that Clifden District Hospital is closed once again. I learned that from the media, which is most unhelpful, and I have no idea what is going on. Going back almost two years ago, there was a union dispute. We were told the staff did not want to work between the district hospital and St. Anne's community nursing unit. We were told there was no demand. We were told of all sorts of contradictory reasons. We were told they could not get any nurses. Then we had meetings and one of the local doctors confirmed that there was a demand for respite beds and for convalescent beds.

I will put that perspective with the hospital in Galway city. Around this time last year, HIQA visited the hospital and said it was grossly overcrowded with 28 patients on trolleys. I will link it back to Clifden now. A hospital in Galway was grossly overcrowded with 28 patients on trolleys. It was the third busiest hospital and the third worst - no reflection on the staff - for waiting lists and for numbers of people on trolleys. That was a year ago. With 28 patients on trolleys, HIQA thought it was grossly overcrowded. Does the Minister of State know what the figures have been for the last while in University Hospital Galway, a year after they called it grossly overcrowded at that stage? On Monday, 12 February, there were 55 people on trolleys. To take days up to the present at random, the numbers of patients on trolleys were 60, 65 and 45 and HIQA had called it grossly overcrowded. It failed on four conditions, was partially compliant on two and was non-compliant on the others. Why am I saying all of that? In addition to that, there were over 20 patients who were ready to leave but had nowhere to go and yet we are closing down a district hospital that could provide a service to take the pressure off the regional hospital, which HIQA said a year ago was grossly overcrowded with just 28 people on trolleys. Now, it has 50 and 60 such people.

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