Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 59: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding staff discussions at Roscommon Hospital and Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, County Galway; her plans to change the management structure at these hospitals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19998/10]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 119: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her plans to change the management structure at Roscommon Hospital, County Roscommon and Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, County Galway; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19997/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 59 and 119 together.

The HSE plans to recruit a General Manager with responsibility for Galway University Hospital, Portiuncula Hospital and Roscommon County Hospital. The recruitment of a General Manager with responsibility for the three hospitals this is designed to improve good co-ordination between the hospitals and to improve clinical services for patients across the region. It is in line with the ongoing process of achieving greater collaboration between Roscommon and Portiuncula in the provision of services, for example, in the re-configuration of the surgical and anaesthetic departments of the two hospitals into a Joint Department of Surgery and Anaesthesia, which is underway.

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 integrated governance across hospital networks as an important factor in ensuring higher quality services for patients.