Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 50: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her plans to reconfigure the delivery of hospital services in the north east; if it is true there is not a red cent available to build a new tertiary hospital in the region; the interim plans to deliver hospital services to the people of the north east; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22170/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Transformation Programme for the North East region 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 international evidence indicates that this can be achieved by centralising acute and complex care so that clinical skill levels can be safeguarded through ensuring sufficient throughput of cases. This was highlighted in the Teamwork Report — "Improving Safety and Achieving Better Standards — An Action Plan for Health Services in the North East".

The Transformation Programme is about the reshaping and integration of community and hospital services so individual members of the public will have access to better quality safe services, which they can have confidence in. The majority of that care can be provided locally where practical, including within the community or in the home.

In progressing the Programme the Health Service Executive (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. 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 report of the consultancy firm, which the HSE commissioned to carry out an independent study on a possible location for the new Regional Hospital was noted at the HSE Board meeting in April. No decisions have been made by the Government or by the HSE on the future location of the new hospital.

The findings of the recently published OECD Report "Ireland Towards an Integrated Public Service" will need to be carefully considered in the context of the Transformation Programme for the North East. The Report emphasises the need to deal with the reforms of primary and community care in tandem with the reconfiguration of hospitals if the overall vision is to be realised. It suggests a broader examination of international systems which would help identify how other countries have met the needs of areas with characteristics similar to the North East.

The OECD took the view that an examination could include the possibility of having two hospitals, one regional and one general, in the North East. It added that the outcome of such an examination could equally be a reaffirmation of the plan for one acute hospital for the region.

The immediate focus of the Transformation Programme is to have acute and complex care moved from 5 to 2 hospital sites and to ensure that services in the region are organised to optimise patient safety. The first step in the development of a fully integrated regional health service is to ensure that the people of the North East have local access to both routine planned care and immediate life saving emergency care. Over the next few years, in preparation for all acute emergency in-patient care and complex planned care being provided at a regional centre, the existing five hospitals will continue to improve services by further merger of their acute care specialties.

The reconfiguration of services in the North East in a way which demonstrably delivers safer and more effective services for people in that region will continue to have my full support.