Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin will finish his two days of engagements in Mayo today, but yesterday as part of his visit to Castlebar, he spent over an hour in the Sacred Heart Hospital meeting with staff and patients and he called for action to be taken very quickly to ensure the hospital remains and is improved. Speaking to the press afterwards he said: “Firstly I was very impressed with the presentation I was given by the staff there. I was very impressed with the facility, particularly the rehab facility that was there. I think your fortunate to have a facility like the Sacred Heart that has a lot of potential”
He also saw future potential upgrading of the facility to include other sectors of care, saying, “I believe also there could be potential for a facility for the chronically sick young at the facility. One of the areas which as grown of recent times is where very acute accidents or head injuries occur, many young people in that category don’t have centres of excellence in the country and I think with the facilities and staff there, there is potential for a centre like that.”
He called on the Government to make a positive decision quickly to secure the future of the hospital so it meets Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA ) standards going past its current licence which runs until 2015. “HIQA nationally desire to have reduced wards, for two to three persons rather than six or eight used to be and by 2015 that decision has to be made. First of all do we understand the value of the Sacred Heart Hospital here, and then we have to set about designing and building the units that meeting the environmental standards and going on. That’s the call, and that’s the call Fianna Fáil want to be see made. That call has to be made very quickly.”
