Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
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Question 89: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the steps she will take to ensure the maintenance of acute services at Kerry General Hospital, Tralee, County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45531/09]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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The Government is committed to ensuring delivery of the best quality health services possible, in an effective and efficient way. Ensuring patient safety is of paramount importance, so that people can have confidence in the services and that the best possible patient outcomes can be achieved.

The HSE commissioned Horwath Consulting Ireland, in association with Teamwork Management Services, to carry out a review of acute hospital services in the HSE South, based on the principle of securing sustainable and clinically safe acute hospital services. Professor John Higgins was appointed as Director of Reconfiguration of Acute Services, Cork and Kerry Region, in March 2009. The Teamwork report was launched publicly on 9 June 2009 and a Reconfiguration Forum was established to assist Professor Higgins and the HSE in the reconfiguration process.

The Teamwork report proposed a single health care system for Cork and Kerry, with a new regional governance structure for hospitals and community to encompass the relationship between the health care system and the third level educational sector - UCC and Cork and Tralee ITs. A key principle of the report is that, while no hospital in the region will close, all hospitals will fundamentally change the services delivered to their communities and how those services are delivered, as part of the region-wide delivery of health care.

Because of the specific demographic and geographic challenges in Kerry, the report recommended that Kerry General Hospital retain current acute services within the regional structure. In addition, the report of the Reconfiguration Subgroup on Emergency Services, published on 18 November, has recommended further development of Kerry General Hospital's twenty four hour emergency service, within a structured relationship with the regional emergency service network and including major trauma assistance from Cork University Hospital.

Professor Higgins and his team will continue to work with clinicians and management to develop a new plan for the delivery of services in Cork and Kerry. It is intended that the plan will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2010.