Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Anne Rabbitte. I look forward to working with her in her new portfolio. It is great to see a woman from the west because she will be well aware of the Commencement matter I will raise today. It relates to Portiuncula University Hospital, in Ballinasloe, and investment under the HSE capital plan for 2021 and also the HSE winter plan for 2020. As the Minister of State would know very well, Portiuncula is a level 3, 24-7 hospital. It operates 365 days a year. It never stops. It handles casualty, maternity and surgical services and is part of the Saolta network. It is one of the seven hospitals that are part of the network in the west and we so need our hospitals in the west to be hospitals fit for the 21st century.

What surprised me when I was involved in fighting for the 50-bed unit last year was that the hospital handles a catchment area of more than 500,000 people. It is amazing. It covers five counties including east Galway, Roscommon, parts of Westmeath, Offaly, north Tipperary and, as the Minister of State would know, Portumna. It even covers Athlone, with a population of more than 21,000 people. If one lives in Athlone one was more than likely born in Portiuncula hospital.

For people in Ballinasloe, the hospital is an integral part of our identity and a vital service. Close to 800 people work in the hospital. We have excellent healthcare teams. We recently won funding awards with Sláintecare. However, the hospital infrastructure dates back to the 1940s. There is a dire lack of shower and toilet facilities and for an area of 400,000 people, Portiuncula hospital has only 13 single rooms. I am not talking about ICU beds; I am talking about single rooms to keep people safe from infection. It is made up of six- and eight-bed wards. In the face of this crisis, a special ward was designated for Covid-19 patients within the hospital. The general manager and the teams in the hospital have taken the initiative. They have moved the outpatient department to a modular unit in the car park. They have funding for that modular unit but funds are now required for the next step to develop the outpatients unit into 13 en suite single rooms.Can the Minister confirm that sufficient funds are listed in the HSE 2021 capital plan for the redesign and repurposing of the outpatients’ area in Portiuncula hospital as a matter of urgency? We need those 13 rooms now and even if the work is started in January it will be February before it will be set up. When I was a county councillor in 2019, the Minister of State, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, and I were at a meeting here with the then Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, and commitments were given on the 50-bed unit. A 50-single-bed unit was committed to and the enabling works have started. The investment for that is crucial for the hospital to ensure adequate facilities. These are just single rooms to avoid basic overcrowding, infection and to ensure that there is dignity for end-of-life for patients. As I mentioned we need a hospital that is fit for the 21st century.

Can the Minister confirm if follow-on funding is available for stage two construction of this 50-bed single unit and if the tender process is to commence in January, with HSE estates? We looked for and were given a date last year with a construction start date of July 2021.

Finally, the CT scanner is not currently fully operational in the hospital. The Minister of State may be aware of this. It is due for equipment replacement in 2022. Can the Minister of State consider within the Department of Health if a replacement CT scanner could be an urgent request for the 2021 equipment budget to allow for early diagnosis and to assist teams handling of waiting lists?

I thank the Minister of State for her time. I know that of all Ministers, and being a woman from the west, she is aware of the crucial importance of that hospital and of the lack of investment over the past number of decades. I look forward to hearing more from the Minister of State now about the great budget we have achieved with an extra €4 billion, and the commitment to bed capacity.