James Breen (Clare, Independent)
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Question 338: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will clarify her statement and name the 26 hospitals that will lose there doctor led accident and emergency services in June 2007; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39211/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I did not make such a statement, and there are no proposals to withdraw medical services in June 2007 from 26 accident and emergency departments. The policy of the Government is to ensure the provision of safe, high-quality services that achieve the best possible outcomes for patients. Patient safety and quality must be paramount and must be the key drivers in configuring acute hospital services, including accident and emergency services. This will mean that those services that can be safely delivered locally are delivered locally and that more complex services that require specialist input are concentrated at regional centres, or, in the case of highly specialised services, in national centres of excellence. This approach is consistent with international best practice for the optimum delivery of patient care.