Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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90. To ask the Minister for Health when all necessary consultant and staff posts will be filled in Our Lady's Hospital, Navan. [43504/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Our Lady’s Hospital Navan (OLHN) is part of the Ireland East Hospital Group. Every hospital in that Group, large and small, including OLHN, has a vital role to play within the Group. In 2013 OLHN was included in the list of designated Model 2 Hospital under the Smaller Hospitals Framework which set out the role of smaller hospitals in managing routine, urgent or planned care locally while more complex care is managed in the larger hospitals.

I understand from the HSE, recruitment at Our Lady’s Hospital Navan is an ongoing process to fill vacant posts. The hospital strives to ensure the timely filling of all staff grades. While awaiting the permanent filling of vacant posts every effort is made to have the role filled by agency or temporary staff.

Currently, the Hospital Group is engaged in a programme of re-design work to further integrate and enhance the role of OLHN within the Ireland East Hospital Group and to ensure that it will provide more services safely and appropriately.

The future staff requirements for OLHN will be considered in the context of the evolving role for the hospital and the need to further develop particular services there in the context of overall service reorganisation in the Ireland East Hospital Group. Such service include extended day surgery, selected acute medicine, local injuries, a large range of diagnostic services, specialist rehabilitation medicine and palliative care.

The Hospital Group is continuing to engage closely with all interested parties to ensure that the needs of patients, staff, the local and wider community are addressed.