Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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693. To ask the Minister for Health the way Mullingar in County Westmeath, will benefit from its inclusion in the new hospital groupings within the Dublin Mid Leinster region. [29179/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Midland Regional Hospital at Mullingar (MRMH) is part of the Ireland East Hospital Group. The other hospitals in this Group are Mater Misericordiae University Hospital; St Vincent's University Hospital; St Luke's General Hospital, Kilkenny; Wexford General Hospital; National Maternity Hospital; Our Lady's Hospital, Navan; St Columcille's Hospital; St Michael's Hospital, Dun Laoghaire; Cappagh National Orthopaedic Hospital; Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital. (Academic Partner: UCD).

The initial focus is on getting the hospital group up and running as a single cohesive entity. The hospital group will be required to develop a strategic plan to describe how they will provide more efficient and effective patient services; reorganise these services to provide optimal care to the population they serve; and how they will achieve maximum integration with other groups and all other health services, particularly primary care and community care services.

The formation of the Ireland East Hospital Group, with its own governance and management, will provide the optimum configuration for Mullingar hospital to deliver patient care in a cost effective manner. It will allow for hospitals such as Mullingar to be supported within the Hospital Group in terms of education and training, continuous professional development, the sustainable recruitment of high quality clinical staff and the safe management of deteriorating and complex patients. The Group includes a primary academic partner which will stimulate a culture of learning and openness to change within the hospital group. There will be a structured integration of Mullingar Hospital into the Ireland East Group in 2015 which will provide further support for the hospital in delivering high-quality safe patient care.