Minister opens new Donegal Town Primary Care Centre

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly opened the Donegal Town Primary Care Centre on Friday afternoon saying it fitted into the Government plan for health care in this country.

He also claimed facilities such as this helped them get within touching distance of one of the most profoundly important pillars of a decent and dignified society, universal health care.

A number of speakers including community healthcare network manager for Donegal South and West, Samantha Ibbs; head of services for primary care, Mandy Doyle; general manager for primary care, community healthcare Cavan, Donegal Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo, Maura Gillen and Dr Peter Kardos of the GP practice within the centre outlined the new role for the facility and the journey to reaching the opening.

Minister Donnelly praised all involved in getting the Primary Care Centre to this stage saying he and the Government recognised all the extraordinarily important and valuable work they do.

He said the new Donegal Town centre fitted well into their plan for health care in this country.

"We are at a very important and exciting point in health care. The challenges are very real but things are moving in the right direction and centres like this are part of a national plan to provide the health care services people need."

He added their simple and clear objective was to deliver universal health care throughout the country.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly speaking with HSE staff members when he officially opened the new Primary Care Centre in Donegal Town on Friday Photo: Thomas Gallagher

"We are not there yet. Universal health care is a very simple but a very profoundly important idea which is that every man, woman and child in our country need access to care it's free or affordable; they can get access to it quickly and it's great quality care."

Minister Donnelly described it as one of the most important and unfinished projects of their Republic.

"Our Republic was founded on some very important ideas and one of the most important for me enshrined in the Declaration of Independence is the idea and the value that all of the children of the nation are treated equally. While we always work to achieve that unfortunately in too many areas of health care we are not yet there.

"Unfortunately, to some extent, how quickly people can access care depends on how much money they have or how much money they can borrow or how much money their parents have and that is not what we want for health care in our nation."

The minister detailed all the progress being made in certain areas but admitted not all were in places and mentioned youth mental health as one area that needed more work.

He added access to various services such as GPs, disability, mental health, diagnostics, and primary care teams to outpatient appointments for hospitals and in patients to surgery.

"I know it's not where it needs to be. It wasn't when Covid arrived and it made it a lot worse so let's acknowledge where we're at. Thanks to genuinely heroic work around this country the waiting lists are now falling. This is a huge task but one we are beginning to succeed in a very long time," he said.

He revealed that they were making important progress thanks to the work of the health care community in Donegal and around the country, probably for the first time ever.

"We are within touching distance of one of the most profoundly important pillars of a decent and dignified society which is universal health care and we are going to get there. Costs are falling, services are getting rolled out, capacity is being increased at a level that we have never seen before."

The new Donegal Town Primary Care Centre. Photo: Thomas Gallagher

He pointed out that this was the third primary care centre the minister has opened in Donegal and there is three more on the way.

"They are big modern multidisciplinary facilities. There is a massive investment in everything you are doing.

"We are turning health care inside out from patients being referred into hospitals, waiting and languishing on lists to get a scan or see a doctor. More and more care is being provided in the community leaving the hospitals to do what they need to do, the complex and acute care.

"You are at the forefront of one of the most important changes and one of the most important pieces of social progress that we have ever been engaged in in our Republic which is this move to universal health care and thanks to all of you we are getting there We are going to keep investing in you.

"We are going to keep growing these services. We are going to keep investing in general practice, keep investing in our health care professionals for one and one reason only, because you provide the best care to our patients - because everything starts and finishes with the patient.

"So, no pressure. We are betting the entire health care service on all of you - don't mess it up," he added.

Minister Donnelly also told the gathering of his visit to the Bluestack Special Needs Foundation at The Glebe just outside the town describing them as "an amazing group of people" and how they tried to convince him to part with more money for services.

Guests at the opening included Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD; Thomas Pringle TD; Senator Niall Blaney; members of the Regional Health Forum West, Cllr Tom Conaghan, Cllr Gerry McMonagle, Cllr Gerry Crawford and Cllr Ciaran Brogan; members of the Donegal Municipal District, cathaoirleach Cllr Niamh Kennedy, Cllr Noel Jordan, Cllr Barry Sweeny, leas-cathaoirleach Donegal County Council Cllr Michael Naughton, Cllr Patrick McGowan and Lord Mayor of Donegal Town, Pauric Kennedy, HSE management and the health care professionals, clinic and non-clinical a currently based in the new centre.