Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome. I will be brief and to the point. This matter relates to the upgrade of the facilities at St. Joseph's campus in Longford. We have a fantastic radiology facility there that recently got some aesthetic works done but the X-ray machine is badly in need of an upgrade. A lot of services have been taken away from Longford and moved elsewhere, which means people living in my home county and my local area, in particular north Longford, have to travel upwards of an hour to access them. We want to maintain the services we have there on the campus.

Significant investment was announced by the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, a couple of years ago. Work is starting very shortly on the provision of an upgraded 43-bed care facility on the campus. Following a long campaign, we now have an additional hospice bed and that is going to be part of that plan to bring it up to two in conjunction with the local voluntary committee of Longford Hospice Homecare, which does a fantastic job in our area. We want to make sure we maintain the facilities we have. We want guarantees and commitments that the funding will be put in place to make sure we get that upgraded facility so the people in our county are able to avail of those services.

I also ask that the HSE look at the possibility of locating a minor injury clinic on that campus. A new clinic was opened up on the grounds of St. Francis hospital in Mullingar, in conjunction with Mullingar hospital, to alleviate people going to the emergency department there. It has proved very successful and I would like to see the same implemented on the ground in Longford to look after the people who live in my home county.We have had proposals on the table for a long number of years to move our mental health and disability services from being in a completely outdated and unacceptable building at present to which parents have to bring children to get supports and services to being co-located with the primary care centre, which is located in Ballyminion on the outskirts of the town. A building is available there that would be able to facilitate that. All we have heard is talk over the past number of years. I want commitments that the building beside the primary care centre will be upgraded, that our mental health and disability services will be moved to a state-of-the-art and fit-for-purpose facility to look after citizens in Longford, that the radiology department in St. Joseph's will be upgraded and that we will start the process of putting a minor injury clinic on the campus in St. Joseph's for the citizens of Longford.