Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, for his absence owing to Cabinet commitments.

I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to address the Seanad on services at Monaghan Hospital. Monaghan Hospital and Cavan General Hospital operate as a single entity, with an integrated managerial and clinical governance system, care pathways and support functions. The emergency department is located at Cavan General Hospital, while the facilities at Monaghan Hospital are focused on the provision of elective care and the streaming of appropriate patients to the minor injury unit located on site.

The smaller hospitals framework defined the role of smaller hospitals and outlined the need for smaller and larger hospitals to operate within hospital groups. It identified the activities that could be performed in smaller model 2 hospitals such as Monaghan Hospital in a safe and sustainable manner. In developing smaller hospitals the safety of patients is the first and over-riding concern. Significant progress has been made in recent years in the establishment and development of hospital groups. Hospitals are now working together and supporting each other in groups.This new way of working provides a stronger role for smaller hospitals, like Monaghan Hospital, in delivering a higher volume of less complex care in many cases closer to patients' homes. It also ensures that patients who require true emergency or complex planned care are managed safely in a larger hospital environment. Through reconfiguration and consolidation of services, demonstrably better outcomes can be achieved for patients, as has already been shown and broadly accepted by the public in the case of cancer treatment. With regards to the minor injuries unit, as outlined in the programme for a partnership Government, the Department of Health is committed to undertaking a review of medical assessment units, minor injuries units and similar units with a view to extending their opening hours. Minor injuries clinics and similar units provide valuable services to local communities and alleviate the pressures on emergency departments. The minor injury unit in Monaghan Hospital is open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can treat both adults and children over five years with non-life-threatening or limb-threatening injuries.

The Department of Health review of opening hours will have particular regard to distance from the nearest emergency department and existing workloads. Work on this review is at an early stage. The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris visited Monaghan Hospital in July of this year to engage with staff and to view the hospital's facilities. The Government is committed to securing and further developing the role of our smaller hospitals with the expansion of services delivered in these hospitals, especially in services such as day surgery; ambulatory care; medical services and diagnostics.