Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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13. To ask the Minister for Health if she will ensure that a CT scanner and MRI scanner are located within Monaghan Hospital. [34678/25]

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for his latitude.

The Minister may be aware there has been a long saga in respect of Monaghan hospital since emergency and other services were removed by a previous Fianna Fáil Government. Will the Minister help with the evolution and redevelopment of Monaghan hospital by ensuring there is a CT and MRI scanner located on the hospital campus?

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Government is fully committed to the ongoing development of regional hospitals, including Cavan and Monaghan which operate as a single hospital entity, with integrated managerial and clinical governance systems, care pathways and support functions. Since July 2020, significant resources have been invested to meet the needs of patients using Cavan and Monaghan hospitals. The total budget for Cavan Monaghan General Hospital has increased by 30% from €115 million in 2020 to €149 million in 2025. Staffing has increased in the Cavan and Monaghan hospital by 295 people since January 2020. That is an increase of 26%. The budget has gone up by 30% and the staffing has gone up by 26%.

Median waiting times for patients attending the emergency department are within 3% of the national average. For those admitted to the hospital through the emergency departments, median waiting times are 10% lower than the national average. Cavan and Monaghan hospital has two CT scanners and one MRI scanner, which are located at the Cavan general hospital site. As with all CT scanners, I will be assessing how and when they are used. Cavan Monaghan General Hospital has made an application to the HSE national equipment replacement programme to replace the existing MRI scanner located at Cavan. This project has been approved and works are expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Cavan and Monaghan hospitals might be put together for operational purposes but it cannot be claimed that a service in one is equal to a service in the other. There are 47 km between the two sites. Perhaps that does not seem like much to some people, but if people are living in an area with no public transport and a poor ambulance service, that matters. When the Minister says that Cavan Monaghan General Hospital has two CT scanners and one MRI scanner, that does not deflect from the fact that Monaghan hospital has neither and that needs to change. There is a medical need. Currently, more than 1,500 people are waiting for an MRI appointment and more than 1,800 people are waiting for a CT appointment. By providing the services in Monaghan hospital, not only would the Minister be providing a service the people of Monaghan deserve, she would also be relieving the pressures that are on Cavan hospital.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Waiting times at Cavan Monaghan are improving a lot. Some 35% of outpatient appointments occurred within Sláintecare wait times compared with 25% in the same period last year, which is an improvement that needs to continue. Some 58% of inpatient day cases occur within the Sláintecare wait times, as do 95% of GI scopes, which is an improvement on 87% last year, and 94% to 100% of those waiting for outpatient, inpatient or day case, and GI scope appointments are waiting 12 months or less. I see progress there.

The application is from Cavan Monaghan General Hospital for the replacement of the MRI scanner located at Cavan. That is the application the hospital has made to the HSE.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The difficulty is that the application for scanners at Cavan hospital is made, as the Minister said, by Cavan Monaghan General Hospital, but Monaghan hospital needs these scanners and as I understand it, the staff there want them. The difficulty is that they have to go through this convoluted process Micheál Martin established that put Monaghan and Cavan hospitals together. What happens? Priorities are chosen and the priorities have never been the people, patients or even the staff at Monaghan hospital and that needs to change.

I am appealing to the Minister to engage directly on the ground with elected representatives, the staff of both hospitals and management of the Cavan Monaghan General Hospital and ask them how it is that there is capacity, willingness and eagerness in Monaghan hospital to deliver a service with MRI and CT scanners that is desperately needed by patients, yet there is a reluctance in the management group to ask for them.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I am sure the Deputy has discussed this in detail with the management group already. I wonder what response he got directly.

As I said, staffing at-----

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Deputy Carroll MacNeill is the Minister. I am asking her to ask.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Carthy is the local representative in Monaghan so I assume he has discussed this in detail with hospital management.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Yes, I am not happy with the response so I am asking the Minister to ask.

David Maxwell (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy should allow the Minister to answer.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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If the Deputy would like me to answer, I will do so.

The reality is that staffing has increased in Cavan Monaghan General Hospital by 26% but the increase in Monaghan has been 70%, so Monaghan is not being left behind. I look forward to going there and discussing all these issues, including the business cases submitted or not submitted by Monaghan hospital, as I am sure the Deputy already has.