Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his good wishes. I come from the constituency comprising Sligo, Leitrim, north Roscommon and south Donegal and I understand that some of my constituents in Donegal are playing a big match against the Senator's county next Sunday in the Ulster final.

I thank the Senator for raising this issue and giving me the opportunity to outline the position on plans for the development of a new accident and emergency unit at Cavan General Hospital. Cavan and Monaghan hospitals are part of the RCSI hospitals group. Cavan General Hospital operates as a single hospital with Monaghan General Hospital and currently provides services to the population of both counties. Its catchment area extends to counties Meath, Longford and Leitrim. Together, they share an integrated managerial and clinical governance system, as well as integrated patient care pathways and support functions.

Cavan General Hospital is a teaching hospital, as the Senator rightly said, with links to the Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Physicians and Dundalk Institute of Technology. All acute inpatient services are in Cavan General Hospital and in addition the hospital provides extensive outpatient, theatre and day services. Cavan General Hospital is a level 3 hospital and Monaghan General Hospital is a level 2 hospital. The smaller hospitals framework defines the role of smaller hospitals and outlines the need for smaller hospitals and larger hospitals to operate within hospital groups. The Cavan and Monaghan hospital emergency department is located in Cavan, with facilities in Monaghan focused on elective care and the appropriate streaming of patients to the minor injuries unit. These minor injury units help to provide valuable services to local communities and alleviate the pressures on emergency departments. The HSE intends to progress a project to extend the emergency department, which includes a second resuscitation room, additional clinical administration area and additional waiting area.The HSE has advised it has received some proposed layouts for review. This project was approved by the HSE's national capital steering committee in November 2019, subject to the availability of funding.

The process of engaging a design team to progress this project was being initiated prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has placed additional stresses on all areas of acute hospitals, including emergency departments, and a design team has now been selected to progress this emergency department project whilst taking account of the learnings presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cavan and Monaghan Hospital, serving the people of counties Cavan and Monaghan and the wider RCSI Hospitals Group, has a reputation for the delivery of high quality, innovative and safe care to patients. Given the critical role of Cavan General Hospital within Cavan and Monaghan Hospital, I assure the Senator that this Government will continue to support the hospital to develop its valuable services into the future.