Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, to the House. I served in Hawkins House some time ago and I recognise it is a very difficult task in the Department of Health and I do not intend to make the Minister's task any more difficult.

I could have spent all of my time today talking about Roscommon County Hospital. I express thanks to Senator Crown. I welcome his genuine support for justice for one of the finest medical consultants this country has ever produced, Dr. Pat McHugh, and the staff of the medical section of Roscommon County Hospital. I want the Minister and his officials to check the file and avoid a prolonged legal case that would not really be feasible at this stage. The former Minister, Deputy Reilly, made allegations about the mortality rate at Roscommon County Hospital which proved to be totally inaccurate and Senator Crown has made a very persuasive case on this. I have not spoken to Dr. Pat McHugh, the retired chief physician at Roscommon County Hospital who had worked there since 1977. However, I met him during the election campaign and he was very hurt by the comments made by the then Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly.

As someone who was in that Department, I suggest that the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, should ask his legal department and his advisers to look at the file. I cannot speak for Dr. McHugh, but I know he does not want compensation or anything like that; he just wants to clear his name. The Minister is a doctor and he knows the feeling if somebody made allegations against him. The Minister was not in practice that much. As far as I know he qualified as a general practitioner, but I do not think he had much opportunity between politics and his medical career. However, the allegations were very hurtful and very unfair. I suggest to the Minister that after reading the file he should clear Dr. McHugh's name under privilege in the Dáil. He should point out that certain things were said during that debate and that now, as Minister for Health, he wishes to clear the decks.

I could spend a lot of time talking about Roscommon County Hospital. I ask the Minister to look at the situation. He was at the hospital during the campaign. He met the staff. He knows the feeling regarding the accident and emergency unit. The major ambition in Roscommon is to have that reopened. I welcome the endoscopy unit that is being built at the moment. I welcome any developments in the hospital. I want the retention of the acute psychiatric unit. When I was Minister of State in 1987 it was agreed that the psychiatric units would be part and parcel of the acute general hospital in Roscommon. That made it viable at the time to retain it as an acute general hospital. That worked then and it is working now. I am asking the Minister to ensure that is retained.

Regarding the urgent care centre, during the local election campaign a woman collapsed on a street in Lisnamult in Roscommon town and she hurt her leg. The ambulance came but the paramedics refused to bring her to the urgent care centre in Roscommon. I ask the Minister and his officials to check why she was not taken there. I asked the driver if he would bring her to Roscommon and he said, "Oh no. We've been instructed to bring her to Ballinasloe." They passed Roscommon County Hospital. To provide treatment for an injured leg on a normal day between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. is quite within the scope of the urgent care centre. I ask the Minister to communicate through his officials with the HSE that where a person collapses in those conditions in Roscommon town or anywhere in the county during the day, the ambulance should be directed to Roscommon County Hospital in the first instance and not to Portiuncula or Galway.

I could have a lot to say but my main contribution was as a result of Senator Crown's intervention today.