Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 63: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the discussions she has had with the Health Service Executive regarding the transformation plan for hospital services in Counties Cavan and Monaghan involving the ending of acute inpatient care and critical care at Monaghan General Hospital with the closure of 50 inpatient acute beds and six critical care beds and the transfer of responsibility for these services to Cavan General Hospital without the provision of a single additional bed there; if she will call a halt to this drive to destroy a hospital that has served the community in Monaghan for generations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16238/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I have had many discussions with the Health Service Executive regarding the Transformation Programme for the North East region. The Programme involves widespread and fundamental change and is designed to build a health system that is in line with the model of care emerging internationally. The overriding aim of the Programme, which I fully support, is the need to improve safety and achieve better standards of care for patients in the region. The Transformation Programme is approaching the end of its initial phase of detailed planning and is moving towards detailed design and implementation.

The Teamwork Report, which has helped to inform the approach being taken by the HSE in relation to the Transformation Programme, clearly indicated that the current service configuration in the region is unsustainable, that there needs to be a reconfiguration of hospital services across the five hospital sites and ultimately the development of a new regional hospital in order to ensure the highest level of patient safety. The Report also identified a role for all five hospital sites in the provision of acute hospital services.

In progressing the various elements of the Programme the HSE has repeatedly emphasised its commitment that existing services in the region will remain in place until they are replaced with higher quality, safer or more appropriate services.

In the case of Monaghan General Hospital the HSE envisages that the future role of the hospital will be to provide a range of acute services within a clinical network. It has identified a requirement for additional services to be provided at the hospital as part of an integrated service with Cavan General Hospital. In determining the future capacity of the Hospital the HSE will also have regard to the findings of various reviews which it commissioned and which highlighted the potential to use the existing bed complement in a more efficient manner. The reviews confirmed that acute hospital admissions and length of stay could be reduced if access to a range of support services is improved.

In conclusion, I wish to emphasise that Monaghan Hospital will continue to have an important role to play in the provision of health services in the North East. This view was confirmed in the Teamwork Report and also in the North East Transformation Programme.