Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney. The Government is committed not only to ensuring the delivery of the best quality health services possible but to doing so in an effective and efficient way. Ensuring patient safety is of paramount importance so that people can have confidence in the services and the best possible patient outcomes can be achieved.

The Health Information and Quality Authority was established on a statutory basis in 2007 and is responsible for driving quality and safety in health and social care services. In the same year, the enactment of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 represented the first major overhaul in 30 years of the law regulating the medical profession. The new Medical Council appointed under this Act came into office on 3 July. Also in 2007, the Minister established the commission on patient safety and quality assurance to develop proposals for a health service wide system of governance based on corporate accountability for the safety and quality of all health services. The commission is due to submit its report by the end of this month. In this context, it is essential that every health care provider and facility is fully cognisant of patient safety and quality and takes account of these in the organisation, management and delivery of services.

In the past, Roscommon County Hospital and Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, have operated independently, with two consultant general surgeons in each hospital. The difficulties faced by Roscommon and Portiuncula in maintaining surgical services independently and the need for closer co-operation between them were highlighted by the former Comhairle na nOspidéal in March 2006. Advances in clinical care and ever increasing levels of specialisation mean that the present model of care is no longer sustainable. Small stand-alone hospital services will not be able to offer doctors the opportunity to treat a sufficient volume and variety of patients in order to maintain their skills nor will they be able to provide the range of experience required for doctors during training. As a result, it will prove increasingly difficult, and perhaps impossible, to fill consultant posts on a permanent basis.

In light of these factors, the best way of retaining and developing services at Roscommon and Portiuncula hospitals is for the hospitals to work together. I am confident that the development of joint departments of surgery and anaesthesia at the hospitals will provide a better service for patients of both hospitals. The Health Service Executive is undertaking a detailed planning and consultation process with stakeholders on how best to implement the proposed changes to the organisation of services at the two hospitals. This will include consideration of the most appropriate arrangements in regard to the provision of accident and emergency services for the populations served by the hospitals concerned. The resource implications of the new service configuration in revenue and capital terms will be considered in the context of the planning exercise which I have described.