Laois Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley has called on the new Government to commit to a plan that “gives certainty regarding the emergency department and the other key services in the hospital”.
Speaking in the Dáil this week, Deputy Stanley said: “The programme for Government states additional capacity is required throughout the health system to deal with the growing population and, of course, Covid-19.
“Nowhere is this more true than the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise because it is dealing with the expanding population of County Laois, the fastest growing county outside of the Dublin region.
“There was a plan to remove the emergency department (ED) and other key services from the hospital, but a campaign was mounted which stopped it in its tracks.
“The then Minister Harris, promised a quick public consultation, but three years later that has not happened. I said at the time that I thought it may be a stalling mechanism to get the then Government over a general election and, unfortunately, my fears were confirmed.
“When the new Taoiseach was in opposition, he met the Portlaoise Hospital action committee and promised to deal with this issue and the lack of certainty about the hospital.
“Fianna Fáil made great play of it and great noise about it at the time. We still do not have it. Successive Governments have kicked the can down the road on Portlaoise hospital.
“The one thing the staff, management, patients and the community of Laois need is certainty.
“We need the Government to commit to putting in place a plan for the future of the hospital. This must include retention of the ED. Prior to Covid-19, on average 40,000 people used the ED in Portlaoise hospital.
“If the Government does nothing else with regard to Laois and Portlaoise, will the Minister of State, along with Minister Donnelly, commit to putting a plan in place that gives certainty regarding the emergency department and the other key services in the hospital?
The missing piece of the jigsaw is to nail down once and for all the emergency department, because if we take the emergency department out, we will lose other key services such as paediatrics, maternity and the ICU.’’
Minister of State with responsibility for Mental Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy Frank Feighan responded that the “Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise has been the focus of a number of reviews, investigations and reports”.
“The reports points to the need for a reconfiguration of some services to ensure patients are treated in the most appropriate setting by specialist staff who can safely meet their needs,” he said.
“The Dublin Midlands Hospital Group has been working for some time on a draft plan for a new model of clinical service delivery at Portlaoise hospital which takes into account the need to develop services at the hospital in the context of developing the model of service provision for the entire hospital group.
“No decision has been made on the draft action plan for Portlaoise hospital.’’
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