Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and I wish him well. I also welcome his statement on the future of health care. While ten years seems a long time, what is significant is that he referred to bringing all sides on board and to obtaining different views on how we might achieve a more desirable health care system for everybody. This will require dialogue and that dialogue will take place in the context of an increasing demand on our health services. People are living longer and are coping with chronic health conditions. With advances in medicines, there are new drugs, new treatments for cancer and other life-threatening illnesses and diseases and, periodically, the whole debate to the effect that the State is required to fund new drugs is played out in public. The pharmaceutical companies are trying to get the top dollar while the State has to watch its budget. These are all realities and all the time we are talking about human beings.

It is worth remembering that, even as we try to deliver it, health care must be for everybody, regardless of a person's finances or what he or she can afford. If one is sick or dying, one does not have any options. It is at this time one is really vulnerable. If our State is worth anything, it must continue to strive to find ways to make that health care a reality for all citizens. I know the Minister is committed to that. I welcome the convening of the new health care committee. I support Senator Colm Burke's suggestion that Senators be included among the membership of that committee in order that both the Upper and Lower Houses - across the board in terms of parties - will be represented on it.I welcome this opportunity to get down to the nuts and bolts of the debate and tease out the issues.

I ask the Minister to intervene in a pressing issue that has arisen in Ballina district hospital, County Mayo, namely, the escalation of an ongoing dispute between WestDoc, which provides the hospital with an out-of-hours general practitioner service, and general practitioners who provide the service during normal hours. These services provide 24-hour cover and allow the hospital to function. I have been informed by staff of a threat to withdraw general practitioner services from the hospital in the coming days. This would result in the closure of the hospital, which is difficult to believe. The staff who contacted me are very concerned about patient care.

Ballina district hospital is a step-down facility with a large number of elderly, frail patients. It provides a top-class service, as everyone who uses its services will attest. People are delighted with the care and attention they receive. The hospital's closure would lead to 59 patients being transported by ambulance to Castlebar general hospital. Staff are also fearful for their jobs. While discussions are ongoing, the dispute appears to be escalating and a threat of withdrawal of service has issued to the Health Service Executive. I ask the Minister to ensure all obstacles are overcome and the parties move towards finding an immediate solution to the dispute.

I commend the general practitioners who provide a very good service to the hospital. I also commend hospital management with whom I worked closely to have all the beds in the facility re-opened. In 2011, when the previous Government was elected, the number of beds in the hospital had declined to 40 and it was feared that there would be further bed closures. Working with the Minister and Health Service Executive, I and managers at the hospital fought long and hard to secure the re-opening of beds and the expansion and renovation of the hospital. In conjunction with the Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation, Ballina district hospital provides hospice suites for the first time.

A great deal of good work has been done at the hospital and it is a matter of grave concern that it may close. Such a scenario would be unacceptable and would have knock-on effects. Mayo general hospital, like all hospitals with an emergency department, suffers from the problem of requiring patients to wait on trolleys. Ballina district hospital and hospitals in Swinford and Belmullet, which also provide step-down beds, provide a lifeline to Castlebar general hospital by relieving pressure on its emergency department. I would appreciate if the Minister would revert to me on this extremely urgent matter. The parties must sit around a table and knock out a solution in the interests of health care in the region.