Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I very much support the call for an urgent debate on UHL, not just regarding the past but also what is going to happen this winter. I agree that it is not all at the foot of one person, but one person does have a significant role to play in this.I am very disappointed given that I put in a request to the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, on 10 September, which was two weeks ago today, to have a briefing for all Oireachtas Members in the mid-west and that, while I received an acknowledgement to the e-mail, as of half an hour ago, no meeting has been organised. I requested that the meeting would happen before the Dáil returned, which was a couple days after that. The acknowledgement came but the meeting did not happen. I want to know from the Minister and from Sandra Broderick, the regional executive officer, what is being done for the next couple of months, when we will see a surge. It is an inevitability because it is winter. We saw what happened over the summer, with the highest numbers of any hospital in the country, yet again breaking records.

I am also very disappointed with the timeline and HIQA report. I spoke about this when it was announced that the Minister was asking HIQA to carry out an examination of the provision of emergency care in the mid-west. I wanted to see a short, sharp review. We all know what the issues are. It took three or four months for the terms of reference to be written and now we are told the report will not be available until next summer, which is after the general election and after the negotiation of the next programme for Government. What is the point of that? It is ridiculous. That needs to be looked at urgently. I have called for it and, subsequent to me calling for it, the members of Clare County Council passed a unanimous motion that the timeline needed to be brought back. If the Minister is coming to the House, I want to know what is happening in UHL and I want to know why it has taken a year to come back with a review on urgent care. The Minister has a responsibility to urgently organise a briefing for the mid-west Oireachtas Members. It is not good enough that he has not done it so far after being asked to do it on 10 September.