Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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8. To ask the Minister for Health further to Question No. 33 of 2 May 2024, to provide an update on the recruitment of the required staffing resources to ensure Clifden District Hospital can remain open on a permanent basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25537/24]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am glad the Ministers are here. Táimid ar ais arís go dtí an ospidéal sa Chlochán. I am asking for an update for the recruitment of the required staffing resources to ensure Clifden District Hospital will remain open on a permanent basis. Will the Ministers zone in on that in their contributions?

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I put on record the Deputy's constant advocacy regarding Clifden hospital which I was delighted to visit last year. We know there has been challenges in staffing so I will focus on that. Following a derogation I secured, I am pleased to inform the Deputy that HSE community healthcare west has now successfully recruited the required staff to safely reopen Clifden District Hospital. The hospital currently has seven beds available, of which five are occupied, and two are available to support University Hospital Galway for discharges. Staff have been recruited through the use of agency staff as a temporary measure as the HSE completes the recruitment process for staff identified through local panels for nursing and healthcare assistants. The recruitment process is expected to be completed by September 2024. They are currently dependent on agency staff again but the recruitment process is under way. To maintain those seven beds, which is hugely important, the five respite and the two step-down beds from University Hospital Galway, having permanent staff in place is the way forward.

Management in the HSE community healthcare have liaised with the local management in Clifden District Hospital to ensure the reopening of the beds in Clifden is on a stable basis and that the rosters in both St. Anne's community nursing unit and in Clifden District Hospital can be maintained at safe levels to provide both short-term and long-term care in Clifden. This is an area on which I have engaged consistently with the lead for older people in the HSE, Mr. Des Mulligan. They know in no uncertain terms that I will not accept these beds not being open. They are so relevant for supporting older people to be able to live well in their own community and having that vital respite. We have been challenged in the Galway area getting respite beds open, as the Deputy knows, but I am pleased to say the recruitment will be finished by September.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State. It is not a mutual admiration club but I want to pay tribute to her own hands-on approach. Having said that, this hospital has been limping from week to week. Back in October 2022, which is almost four years ago, it was announced that Clifden hospital would be closing. It was a terrible blow and all of the local representatives, those from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and everyone, were in. I pay tribute to them all. There were public meetings and the sense of frustration at those meetings was just palpable. It has limped on from October. It is not a good position to be in that it is limping on. It closed in February of this year and it reopened in May with a few beds and a small number of staff. The Minister of State herself has referred, as has the senior Minister, to the number of agency staff that are now being used. We have gone full circle again. We tried to stop agency staff and we are now back. We in the Opposition find ourselves saying we should take any staff, which is not a good way to run any system. I will not go over time. I will come back in.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy knows, the HSE community healthcare west is committed to the new 40-bed community nursing bed in Clifden. The new CNU build will amalgamate the residential services currently in Clifden hospital and in St. Anne's. The new build will allow long-term care currently provided in St. Anne's and convalescent step-down care currently provided in Clifden hospital on the one site. The project is currently going through the planning process. Later on today, I am travelling to Roscommon to turn the sod on another CNU we are developing at the former Sacred Heart Hospital. It is really important for these CNUs that we have the whole continuum of care. We have the long-term beds, the short-stay beds, the respite, the convalescence, palliative supports and dementia supports. That is the complete focus on this. I am getting fortnightly updates from them regarding the planning. I want this to start sooner rather than later, especially on my watch while I am in this role, because that area of the country deserves a community nursing unit as much as anywhere else, whether it is Ballyshannon, Roscommon or Waterford.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Yesterday, there were 57 people on trolleys in Galway. I will be coming to this later in Leader's Questions. I give forewarning to the Minister there and to the Taoiseach that I will be coming back to Galway later. There were 57 people on trolleys. Have any of us spent time on trolleys? If we did, I think it would be sorted out very quickly. We go back again. There are beds empty in Merlin Park University Hospital and in the heart of the Gaeltacht, sa Cheathrú Rua. There are empty beds and no staff. Then we have Clifden. In the middle of this, I welcome the progress but I am not sure what the decision is regarding Clifden District Hospital and that is the kernel of this. There seems to be a conflation of the two things. There is a new nursing home, which I welcome, although I am upset that it is going from 50 to 40. Initially, it was 50 beds; now it is 40. It seems to me the different answers being given are saying that the district hospital would close then. I am very concerned about that and so are the representatives on the ground. The local GP, Dr. Casey, is also very concerned, and he made a very strong case the night of the public meeting to keep Clifden open as a district hospital. It does - or did - a whole range of activities. I would really appreciate clarification on that and on when the complement of staff will be in place.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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To go back again to the complement of staff, when the beds closed, I sought a derogation in person to make sure, because of the moratorium, that we could have permanent whole-time equivalents there. It is very important for older people especially that they have continuity in the staff they are seeing. My understanding, and what I want to achieve, is that 48 of 90 community nursing units are being reconfigured and rebuilt to a very high standard. This investment is approximately €35 million. As I said, and I cannot state it clearly enough, this will encompass what was the district hospital and what was respite rehabilitation in the St. Anne's section. It will be a whole continuum of care.

It will not be just long-stay beds like people under the fair deal. We have to be able to provide all the support, including, respite, rehab and palliative care. A dementia offering is also very important and is something I am focusing on.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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What will happen to the district hospital?

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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It will be amalgamated into the new community nursing unit. The new facility will include the long-stay beds currently in the district hospital, but my understanding is there will be no loss of service that is currently available in the district hospital.