Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. I will stick to the script.

First, I acknowledge the hard work and commitment of all the staff in Bantry General Hospital. The hospital serves a unique, large, rural geographical area, from the peninsulas in the south west, to Clonakilty and Timoleague in the east.Although the hospital serves a population of approximately 60,000 people, during the summer months this figure can increase by 80% to 100%. This also covers the islands, as the Senator has said. Under the reconfiguration of services in Cork and Kerry, Bantry General Hospital has been designated the only model 2R hospital - remote and rural - in the country. This means, that unlike other model 2 hospitals, Bantry General Hospital continues to receive undifferentiated medical presentations 24-7. Services like the medical assessment unit are experiencing a notable increase in demand, up by 7% in 2021 and an additional 13% in 2022. Bantry General Hospital has received a significant level of investment in recent years, with funding increased by 11% since 2020. The hospital's workforce has also grown considerably. As of 2022, the hospital employed 1,165 WTEs, an increase of 10% on the same period in 2020. That sounds to me like a vibrant hospital. The Senator is right to say we should be talking, because all I have ever heard about Bantry General Hospital is negative. The Senator's contributions are therefore welcome this morning. I acknowledge that recruitment of relevant and appropriately skilled staff in rural areas continues to pose a particular challenge to the HSE. Hospitals like Bantry General Hospital are particularly affected by this trend. I have been advised that the hospital is currently relying on short-term and long-term locum non-consultant hospital doctors, NCHD, with differing levels of experience to maintain the very busy twenty-four hour, seven-day per week rota at the hospital. The cost of funding agency spend on NCHDs in Bantry was just under €170,000 for 2022. With the support of these locum doctors the hospital must also meet the 24-hour European working time directive key performance indicator, KPI. Recruitment and retention of healthcare workers generally, including NCHDs, remains a top priority for this Government. As recently as September the Minister announced that he is establishing a national taskforce to focus on the NCHD workforce. The purpose of the taskforce is to put in place sustainable workforce planning strategies and policies to improve the NCHD experience, and support and grow a sustainable NCHD workforce. Central to achieving this will be the promotion of a culture of education and training at clinical site level to support present and future retention of NCHDs in all hospitals, including Bantry General Hospital. Perhaps that will address the Senator's question about expanding the number of NCHDs at that location.