Paddy McHugh (Galway East, Independent)

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this very timely motion, which mainly concerns itself with the Health and Safety Authority's call for a safety audit of all accident and emergency departments. For the Health and Safety Authority to make such a call shows great concern on its part about the shortcomings of accident and emergency departments.

It is a timely motion from another point of view. The Tánaiste visited the accident and emergency department in UCHG on Monday and again yesterday. She applied herself to some other issues, which have been of concern to my constituents for some time. I was amazed to hear that she encountered only 14 people in the accident and emergency department in UCHG during her visit, which is rarely the case. To get the real picture the Tánaiste should visit the hospital on a weekend night when she would see multiples of 14, some of whom should not be there but should be accommodated in more suitable accommodation and supervised by appropriate staff members.

I was disappointed that the Tánaiste did not take the opportunity to approve an application to the Department of Health and Children for a medical assessment unit which the medical staff state would provide a system-wide solution to the issues experienced in the accident and emergency department in Galway at the moment. I would encourage the Tánaiste to approve that proposal as a matter of urgency.

On a positive note, I warmly welcome the announcement that the new radiotherapy centre at UCHG will be opened in March. This will go some way towards addressing the totally unacceptable situation whereby patients had to undertake a journey from one side of the country to the other to receive a few minutes treatment per day. Some of those patients were barely well enough to undergo such a gruelling ordeal.

It was disappointing that the Tánaiste did not deal conclusively with the Tuam hospital issue on her visit to Galway. I was alarmed to hear that she is awaiting yet another report on the matter. All the relevant information has been sitting in the Department of Health and Children since 8 October 2002, a long time before the Tánaiste became Minister for Health and Children. That relevant information comprises a 150-page planning brief prepared by the Western Health Board for the Tuam health campus and identifies the need for a community hospital for Tuam, comprising 60 beds, dementia day-care, mental health day-care, a primary care unit, an ambulance base, regional family and child care, and a training unit. We also know that the Western Health Board has established that while the existing building is not suitable for the hospital and medical portion of the development, it can be used for ancillary accommodation.

The need has been established and the assessment has been done. The model has been created, a photograph of which adorns a notice board on the site, proclaiming that the site has been purchased by the Western Health Board for the development of a Tuam health campus, incorporating a community hospital.

Separately in specific isolated studies, the Western Health Board identified Tuam as the appropriate location for an ambulance base to serve north Galway, south Mayo and on to the Roscommon border. This ambulance base is critical for the population in the region. Under a pilot scheme announced by the former Minister for Health and Children for the delivery of primary health care, Tuam was identified as a priority area for a primary care unit. The West Regional Authority published a document, Regional Planning Guidelines for the West Region, which identified the need for the provision of health care services in Tuam.

Tuam has been designated as a hub town under the national spatial strategy. As the Tánaiste will be aware, one of the characteristics of a hub town is that it should have a regional or community hospital. The studies have been done, the needs established and the relevant bodies all support the case. Now all we need is for the Tánaiste to approve the planning brief for Tuam health campus.

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