Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I follow on from Senator Dooley with regard to University Hospital Limerick, UHL. I was going to let my comments wait until tomorrow when we have the debate on hospitals in general. Some 11,000 people took to the streets of Limerick last week. We need the Minister to come here. We need a debate on the future of UHL. We need to ensure patients and staff are going to a safe environment. I acknowledge that considerable work has been done on the hospital over the past couple of weeks, especially since the emergency day was declared on 3 January. Numbers have come down significantly. My concern is that it will not be sustainable in the long term. Changes need to be made. Using the accident and emergency department in Mallow for triage has been considered. The three other hospitals - Nenagh, Ennis and St. John's hospitals - need to be better utilised. Community healthcare centres also need to be better utilised because many older people like to visit the community healthcare centres and feel safe there. An overall review is needed of how the hospital is run. The population has increased. We need to take on more consultants and nurses, but we need to ensure that at the end of the day, both staff and patients have a safe visit to the hospital. That is important because we are the third largest city and we deserve it. Our biggest problem is that we do not have a private hospital in the area. Plans were refused by the planning authority there for a proposed new private hospital. The Minister needs to come here and we need a full and accountable debate. I ask for the Leader's support on this.