Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The HSE made a decision this week to is to postpone the opening of a community hospital in Nenagh and to use it in the immediate future as a step-down facility for University Hospital Limerick, UHL. I can understand the basis of the decision as I have spoken here many times about the huge pressure UHL is under. There is a significant waiting list for the community hospital in Nenagh. I ask two things. First, to ease the concerns of those who are expecting the community hospital to open this spring, I ask that the HSE guarantee that within the next 12 months, the community hospital will open in Nenagh as a community hospital. Second, this clearly demonstrates the need for a modular step-down unit in Nenagh to keep the pressure off UHL. The capital funding for a 50-bed modular unit should be allocated for that. We have a new 96-bed unit coming on stream in UHL. We will not have all of that number of 96 new beds, so Ennis and Nenagh need this investment to finally cure the chronic situation we have in UHL.

See this speech in context