Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Health if he and the HSE are committed to maintaining the full range of services at the South Infirmary Victoria Hospital following reconfiguration of the health services in the Cork area; and if he will make a statement on the matter [40962/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The creation of hospital groups and trusts is at the heart of the Government’s reforms of the acute hospital sector. It is an important stepping stone towards the introduction of universal health insurance which is the ultimate destination of the Government's reform programme. As a first step on that journey, hospitals will be aligned within groups on an administrative basis. Each Group will have a single consolidated management team with responsibility for performance and outcomes, within a clearly defined budget and employment ceiling.

Hospitals in Cork and Kerry have already undertaken a significant amount of work in this respect, through the ongoing reconfiguration program, which has received wide support through its comprehensive consultation process. Hospitals in the region have cooperated with a range of changes in the services they provide, in order to optimise patient care. South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital has seen a number of changes in the past twelve months, such as the relocation of services from the St Mary’s’ Orthopaedic /HSE to the SIVUH which includes the orthopaedic services. The transfer of this service coupled with the development of the paediatric orthopaedic services on the SIVUH site will greatly benefit the children of the Cork and Kerry region and reduce significantly the need for children and their parents to travel to Dublin based hospitals as heretofore. The transfer of these services has been supported through the appointment of three additional consultant orthopaedic surgeons.

The profile of the hospital is changing from an acute general hospital to a specialist tertiary referral hospital for the Cork and Kerry region; e.g. Orthopaedic surgery, Ear Nose and Throat (including head and neck surgery) and, in the near future, Ophthalmology. In the next number of weeks the additional services of Pain Medicine and elective Plastic Surgery are planed to move to the SIVUH from Cork University Hospital.

It is envisaged that the introduction of hospital groups will provide further opportunities for inter-site co-operation, on the basis of parity of esteem for the hospitals and teams within their hospital groups. Budgets for specialist and tertiary services will be set nationally. It is very important that services are provided by a hospital group working together as a cohesive entity. The provision of services should be planned and facilitated across the group so as to ensure effective, efficient and safe services in the most appropriate location, to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients and their families.