Harney welcomes report on Ennis Hospital

Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney today said she "strongly welcomed" the report of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) on services at Ennis Hospital.

The investigation declared the hospital unsafe, and stated that a number of services at the facility should be stopped immediately, in the interests of patient safety.

"This report is very important as it underlines the need for significant change in the way acute hospital services are organised in order to ensure a safe and high quality service for patients," said Harney.

"The acute hospital reconfiguration plans currently being implemented by the HSE in the Mid West Region are very much in line with the analysis and recommendations developed independently in this report."

The Minister said that the HIQA report stated that simply putting more resources into Ennis will not "address the fundamental issue of professional teams maintaining their clinical skills and expertise in the area of surgery, critical care, emergency care, children’s and maternity services".

"I have asked the HSE to give careful consideration to the report’s conclusions and recommendations, not only in relation to Ennis, but to the delivery of acute hospital services generally."

The Minister paid tribute to HIQA and in particular the investigation team, chaired by Ms Diane Whittingham, for its work in preparing this report.