Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

I fully support this Adjournment matter. I have spent more than 30 years in public life. During all that time I have been active in defending the hospital and urging the powers that be such as the health board, of which I was a member for 23 years and chairman for two years, and the Minister for Health and Children, to ensure Mullingar Regional Hospital received due recognition for the great services it provide.

It a flagship hospital and one of the top three performing hospitals in the country. Recently, following many complaints I received from people in the hospital and those living in Mullingar and Longford, I met with Professor Drumm in my office in Leinster House. I urged him to come to Mullingar and meet the staff of the hospital, which he did. At that time I asked him why Mullingar Regional Hospital had an allocation of X amount of euro but other hospitals which are performing below the standard of Mullingar in terms of output have a greater allocation. His response was that the HSE wanted to bring the other hospitals to which I referred up to the standard of Mullingar and not bring it down to the standard of the other hospitals.

All of the beds in the old hospital which was vacated have been moved into the newly fitted-out phase 2B shell. Mullingar Regional Hospital had 220 beds and now has 199. Included in the 220 beds were 11 day beds. There are now 24 day beds. This is linked to the practice of treating people on a day patient basis.

I accept that Mullingar is not getting a fair crack of the whip. In the past number of months the dermatologist left and went further afield because she did not get the resources with which she should have been provided. I am pleased to inform the House there is now a temporary dermatologist in place who will be seeing current patients and a permanent post will be advertised shortly.

I agree with what my colleague said. I strongly endorse the great service provided by the physicians in the hospital, who are led by Professor Sean Murphy and Dr. Ron Charles, the clinical director, and by all the ancillary and back-up staff. It must be remembered there is a moratorium on the recruitment of public sector staff.

I wish to discuss the old hospital which has been vacated. It might be a good story. I strongly support Senator Cassidy and deplore the reduction of 21 beds and it should not have happened. A central staff changing area, a laundry and distribution area will be provided and an area to provide stock for a top-up system which will make the stock management more efficient in order to save money will be established in the old hospital. All of this relates to the non-pay sector.

Ward 1 will be used as a mass vaccination site for administering the swine flu vaccine for the foreseeable future. Ward 3 will be a diabetes day care centre to support the endocrinology service, a very important service. I was responsible for a debate in this House on the levels of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Ward 4 will be used to develop women's health, with particular reference to foetal assessment, something which was looked for by Dr. Bates and other members of his team.

I am less than satisfied with the manner in which Mullingar Regional Hospital has been treated. It is a flagship hospital providing one of the top services in the country and performing at a level far above that of other hospitals which are receiving a greater allocation of money. It is important that the beds which have been removed are replaced. I accept we are in difficult times but Mullingar needs to be treated fairly and, in this case, it has not been.