TDs seek investment to improve Mullingar neurology services

TDs Sorca Clarke and Tony McCormack have called on the health minister to commit further investment to address the under-resourced neurology service at Midlands Regional Hospital Mullingar.

Deputy Clarke (Sinn Féin) and Deputy McCormack (Fianna Fáil) recently raised the issue in the Dáil, highlighting concerns over staffing shortages and growing demand for specialist neurological care in the midlands.

More than 160 patients are currently waiting for neurology services at Mullingar, and campaigners warn that the region continues to lack adequately resourced specialist services.

National investment has focused on recruiting additional consultant neurologists and neurology clinical nurse specialists as part of the HSE’s neurology model of care.

The HSE is also rolling out a ‘hub and spoke’ system designed to improve access to diagnosis and treatment closer to patients’ homes, reducing reliance on hospitals such as St James’s Hospital in Dublin.

The Neurological Alliance of Ireland has also called for the establishment of a fully funded community neurorehabilitation team in the midlands, one of the few regions still without the dedicated service for people living with neurological conditions.

Responding to the parliamentary questions, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the matter was one for the HSE. “As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible,” the minister said in her reply to the TDs.