Reilly: We will support small hospitals

SMALL hospitals have an enormous part to play in the delivery of the country’s healthcare system and will be supported by the Government, Health Minister James Reilly has said.

Dr Reilly also said there could never be a question of the Government capping childhood vaccinations.

“I can absolutely guarantee that there will be no interference with vaccine programmes that save lives and are one of the most cost effective things we do in health,” he told a conference on policies for a healthier Ireland at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in Dublin.

Dr Reilly was also asked about reports that health service managers in Dublin and the north-east have proposed introducing a waiting list for services for pregnant women and infants, and scaling back on services for sexual abuse victims as part of a draft cost-saving strategy.

The minister said it was up to each institution, each hospital, and each service to honour the agreements that they signed up to in terms of the budget they were given and the service that they promised to deliver.

The minister had been asked to comment on a HSE internal draft report which mentioned that Monaghan Hospital and Louth County Hospital were at risk of closure, as was the elective orthopaedic unit in Navan, Co Meath.

Dr Reilly made a pre-election promise to review the issue of the country’s smaller hospitals and where they fitted into the HSE’s reconfiguration programme. He said that while it was always possible that wards could close and services cease on a temporary basis, the permanent closure of a hospital was “not on his agenda”.

Asked why Rostrevor House nursing home in Dublin received nearly €700,000 in subsidies from the HSE last year, Dr Reilly said it was not unreasonable that the HSE would pay for beds where it had patients.

The private nursing home was taken over by the state last week after allegations of abuse of residents by a male care assistant were made by other staff members

The minister pointed out that the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) conducted a report on the nursing home last year and found it was fit for purpose.

“What is disturbing is the fact that such allegations of abuse are there. HIQA have taken action and An Bord Altranais have taken action also but the matter could still be one for the gardaí,” he said.