Laois Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley says that the retention of the Emergency Department at Portlaoise Hospital should be secured in the new Programme for Government.
“There is the perfect opportunity now to ensure that core services at Portlaoise are protected by having it included in the Programme for Government being negotiated between Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens,” said Stanley in a statement today.
“There are four members of the Oireachtas from these parties in the Constituency, two Fianna Fáil TDs, one Fine Gael TD and one Green Senator. All of them now have the opportunity to ensure a plan for the future of Portlaoise is put in place.
“A plan put forward in 2017 to remove the ED and other core services has never been replaced.
“Simon Harris as Minister for Health promised in December 2017 to have a public consultation in Laois on the future of services but this never happened.
“It was, as I predicted then it might be, a delaying tactic to get the outgoing government through a general election. The truth is that several governments have come and gone and we still don’t have a plan for the future of the Hospital that protects ED services.
“If we have learnt anything from the past three months of the emergency, it is that important public health facilities such as this need to be secured and have expanded capacity.
“This is in addition to all the other important points made in the past in support of Portlaoise. These include the increasing population of Laois, the location of the hospital on the motorway networks and two large prisons are within a stone’s throw of it.
“The staff in the hospital have done tremendous work, often at great risk to themselves, during the pandemic. The public across Laois and beyond really appreciate this.
The task now is to build a single tier Irish National Health System with equality of access. Portlaoise Hospital with a fully functioning Emergency Department is needed more than ever as an integral part of this. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green representatives now have a responsibility to the people of Laois and adjoining counties that depend on Portlaoise, to do all possible to secure the services.”
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