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Dáil
‹ Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation

Midwest emergency care review

Summary

Cathal Crowe asks when the HIQA report on emergency care, especially University Hospital Limerick, will be published and urges investment that also protects Clare’s peripheral services. The Taoiseach will seek an update and stresses the importance of rural first responders.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the leeway; I was chairing a committee. I want to ask about the HIQA report into emergency care in the mid-west region, in particular University Hospital Limerick. The report was commissioned early last autumn and is due to come to the Government by the end of this month or possibly early next month. Is there any update on that? When might we know the outcome? There will surely be a recommendation that UHL needs to be beefed up with more beds and investment. That would be a good thing, but my concern as a Clare TD is that peripheral areas in north and west Clare are a long way removed from what is dubbed the golden hour of healthcare. I would like something to be done about developing emergency care in County Clare because the golden hour does not exist for some people. Last year, one quarter of all presentations at UHL were County Clare people. I hope the report will come out soon and be positive. Is there any detail the Taoiseach can share with us today?

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I appreciate the Deputy's persistent focus on this issue and his advocacy for emergency care in the mid-west. I do not have the details yet in terms of the timeline of the HIQA report, but I will talk to the Minister and alert her to the fact that the Deputy has raised this issue. I will say in passing that it is extremely important that we continue to develop the first-responder capacity all over the country, particularly in the rural areas the Deputy identified, because it is the first responder who has the critical interaction that can save a life, be it in a cardiac arrest situation, an accident or whatever. Notwithstanding that, a report has been commissioned and I will try to get a timeline for the Deputy.

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