Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I met her last when I was on a family day out at the Tinahely Show. She was there with her troops in hand to lobby me and advocate on behalf of her constituents. I thank her for the effective way she does that. I will follow up seriously on the issues she raised related to the Holy Angels centre. I know it is an important issue for her and she has a sincere interest in it. I will also be happy to work with her and colleagues on the women’s refuge for Carlow. I ask her to keep in touch with me on these matters.

I am working my way through my notes. I thank Senator Coffey for his comments on the national children’s hospital. I am delighted we are making so much progress on delivering health infrastructure for Waterford, be it the primary care centres either delivered or planned for Waterford city, Dungarvan, Carrick-on-Suir, Ferrybank or Lismore, or the hospice in Waterford that will open in 2020, in respect of which the Senator and I met the HSE and provided surety of funding so that it can get on with recruiting.

I know the issue of 24-7 cardiac care is a very sensitive and serious one in Waterford and the south east. I get that. A national review of those services is under way and we will led by that. The Senator is right in saying that 24-7 cardiac care cannot be provided in the area without having a second cath lab. He and I took the decision to go ahead and provide that infrastructure. I hope the planning application for it will go in quickly. We have had the mobile cath lab there in the past to try to make progress. The Senator and I will meet the HSE on this again in about two weeks to check progress.

The new emergency department in University Hospital Waterford is another example of investment by the Government. The Dunmore wing will not just see additional space but a better level of care in terms of single rooms for patients in the Waterford region. I thank the Senator for his advocacy on behalf of people in Waterford and the south east and we will continue to work together to try to progress a number of those issues.

I thank my colleague Senator Lawlor for his work regarding Naas hospital. I agree with him on the endoscopy unit. With respect to the express care clinic and any partnerships that can happen, I have no role in service level agreements and the likes but I like the idea of people partnering and collaborating. The extra home care hours will make a real difference. We have worked together on that issue. With the provision of one million extra home care hours in 2020, we will start to see reductions in the length of time people have to wait. I was delighted to visit the Little Way Cancer Support Centre in Clane with the Senator and we can see what funding the HSE can provide as part of its 2020 service plan.

I thank Senator Boyhan for his kind comments. Being the Minister for Health is a difficult job but every day we get notes and letters from people around the country who talk about the good experience they had in the health service, so there is good and bad in that respect. We need to keep on working to fix the bad but recognising that not everything is bad. I thank the Senator for his leadership on the National Rehabilitation Hospital. I was delighted to be out there with the Taoiseach recently to see phase 1 almost completed. We want to push on with phase 2. We will keep in touch in that regard.

Senator Buttimer is right that if we want to fix health, we need a long-term reform plan. We have worked very hard in a minority Government with parties across the Dáil and the Seanad to see if we can agree a plan. We have never done this before. We now have a plan on which we have all agreed, even if the Minister or the Government changes, God forbid. That has provided certainty to people working in the health service. It is not my plan to be replaced by some shiny plan by a new Minister. It is one plan called Sláintecare that we have all said we will deliver. That really will make a difference.

I acknowledge to Senator Noone that major progress that has been made in Beaumont Hospital in terms of trolley numbers. We all remember it used to pose difficulties in terms of trolley numbers. It still has its pressures but we have seen major progress in terms of access. I thank the dedicated staff there. They need a new emergency department. We need the cystic fibrosis unit there. We are delivering for cystic fibrosis communities, whether through new medication like Orkambi, the new model of care we launched very recently, or these new facilities. I will keep the Senator updated on the timeline for that and for the ICU radiation oncology centre.

I note a number of Members from the mid-west are present. Senator Kieran O’Donnell is rightly constantly on my case regarding the need to support the Limerick hospital. I want to see the installation of a second MRI scanner there. I have met officials from the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, the HSE and my Department to see how best to make that happen. We have provided additional funding for transitional care, fair deal care and home care for this winter. I hope that will help the region. Most importantly, we will deliver 150 extra beds for Limerick. Work on a 60-bed unit in the hospital is under way. I made an unannounced visit to see that work. That unit will open next year. We have 90 more beds provided for in the capital plan. We are providing 150 beds that the people of the mid-west were promised years ago that nobody ever bothered delivering, but we are delivering them. I know they would like them today, as we all would, but we now have the funding to get on and deliver that.

Senator Coffey raised the issue of the Touching Hearts facility for children with physical and intellectual disabilities. I would be very happy to meet that group with the Senator and see if we can progress it. I am very much in admiration of the work it is doing in terms of the funding for a new facility on the grounds of St. Otteran’s Hospital. I would be delighted to convene a meeting for the Senator with that group in the coming weeks and see if we can work together on it. I thank the Seanad for providing me with this opportunity to update the Members.