The situation with regard to the Sacred Heart Hospital is a very serious one for all the stakeholders. The HIQA report issued at the end of July sent out a clear warning as to what was required to bring the facility up to date and to comply with the regulations. Since then HIQA have outlined a deadline for early September after which no new patients would be admitted and the threat of closure in the long term if certain conditions are not met. It is a very serious situation for the future of one of the county’s major health facilities which has provided an excellent service for local people for over 100 years. I have been in consultation with the staff, management and the other stakeholders on a constant basis on this issue over the past two months.
I am today calling for an urgent meeting with Minister Varadkar and I am calling on my Dail colleagues and other public representatives to join with me on a delegation to meet with the Minister as soon as it can be arranged. The HSE have been aware for years past that additional investment was needed to secure the future of this facility and to ensure a better quality of life for all the residents be promoted and protected. The need for this funding was acknowledged by the HSE at a meeting in October 2014 so it is not news to anyone that there was a problem here. Ultimately this is a funding issue and the future of the Sacred Heart Hospital in Roscommon is in the hands of the Minister and the Department of Health.
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the Sacred Heart Hospital provides a brilliant service. They are providing a necessary service which we need NOW and even more so in the FUTURE. Nobody is denying that there may be shortcomings in the infrastructure of the building but I am saying if there are shortcomings then address them and fix them.
I visited the Sacred Heart Hospital, I talked to the residents and they came across to me as a group who were happy and who were receiving an excellent service, One lovely lady looked up at me and she said “What’s going to happen to us now?” You could see the fear in her eyes. That is not right none of our senior citizens should have a fear that the rug is going to be pulled out from under them!
This is not a political matter it is much more important than politics, and all the stakeholders have to work together now to secure the future viability of the Sacred Heart Hospital so that future generations can have access to this excellent facility