An Taoiseach Enda Kenny is still waiting on a report from Minister for Health Dr James Reilly on the future of the Sacred Heart Hospital. The Taoiseach stated this week: “I haven’t seen any report in respect of the Sacred Heart Hospital yet but what I understand is the Sacred Heart Hospital and before that the County Home in their own way and in their own time did magnificent work in respect of the provision of facilities for the people. And the staff who worked there over the years, the many staff, some long since gone, gave the best, but times have changed.”
The Taoiseach went on to say that HIQA regulations had to be followed, and the hospital was not fully up to standard. “The new HIQA regulations clearly require a standard that is higher than what was there before. That means one bed wards, two bed wards, and three bed wards. The entire physical structures of the Sacred Heart Hospital is not conducive for this. There will be no question of the day care facility, other rehab facility or a number of other facilities being in any way diminished. The fact of the matter is in my time as a public representative, there was always a very long waiting list for people to get into the Sacred Heart Home, there is now no waiting list as patients themselves decide where they want to go.”
