In the 1970s there were 1,500 patients in St. Brigid's Hospital and this is now down to 280. The average stay in the hospital is now 11 days. Given that massive reduction in hospital patient numbers, community services must be available. This has been the objective of the Western Health Board and by and large we have very good community services in the eastern part of County Galway. In west Galway, there has been more criticism in the report of the services in the city, in the University College Hospital Galway, and more particularly the lack of community services in the west of the county. The upshot of that is many patients come to the eastern region where there are better services.