Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will provide details of a recent meeting she had with employees and union representatives of Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe and Roscommon Hospital regarding the Health Service Executive restructuring programme; the details of her plans regarding same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10483/10]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 103: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the reason for the structural management changes at Roscommon Hospital and at Portiuncula Hospital, County Galway; if she will issue a direction to have this decision changed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10266/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 100 and 103 together.

The HSE plans to recruit a General Manager with responsibility for Galway University Hospitals, Portiuncula Hospital and Roscommon County Hospital. The recruitment of a General Manager with responsibility for the three hospitals involves the expansion of the current post of General Manager at Galway University Hospitals. This is designed to improve management processes, promote good co-ordination between hospitals and to improve services for patients. The development is not about downgrading any hospital or reducing its service. It is in line with the greater collaboration between Roscommon and Portiuncula in the provision of services that has been taking place over recent years, for example, in the re-configuration that is underway of the surgical and anaesthetic departments of the two hospitals into a Joint Department of Surgery and Anaesthesia.

The appointment of a General Manager with responsibility for the three hospitals concerned is also in line with the approach on the governance of acute hospitals recommended in the Health Information and Quality Authority's Report on Quality and Safety of Services at the Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis, which was published in April 2009. This report identified the importance of integrated governance across hospital networks as an important way to ensure higher quality services for patients.

The HSE is committed to full engagement with all stakeholders in relation to the General Manager post. The final interviews for the General Manager post will not be held until the competition to appoint a Regional Director of Operations in HSE West is concluded. This means that the Regional Director can take an active part in the selection process.

I attended a meeting with HSE, hospital staff and union representatives on the 19th February 2010 at Portiuncula Hospital at which the HSE plan was discussed. The HSE gave an assurance to staff and union representatives at the meeting that the Executive would arrange a meeting to discuss the context of the appointment of the General Manager. I understand that the HSE has contacted the unions to make the necessary arrangements in this regard.

I am satisfied that the plan to recruit a General Manager with responsibility for Galway University Hospitals, Portiuncula Hospital and Roscommon County Hospital will enhance the capacity for collaboration in service provision, will provide a more strategic approach to the management of the hospitals concerned and will ensure the provision of better and safer services to the people of the region.