Further comment by Minister Finneran on Roscommon County Hospital

• “The greatest threat to existing services at Roscommon County Hospital is the fact that more than 70% of people in County Roscommon needing inpatient surgery treatment are opting to have operations carried out in hospitals other than Roscommon County Hospital”

• “This is a very serious matter where so many Roscommon people needing inpatient surgery treatment are either not been referred by their General Practitioners or are personally opting not to have the procedures carried out at Roscommon County Hospital”

• “Would it not be more appropriate that the energies of the Hospital Action Committee and possibly the newly formed Independent Fine Gael alliance of Roscommon County Council would concentrate their efforts on convincing the General Practitioners in Roscommon to refer patients to Roscommon County Hospital for inpatient surgery, and secondly convince the people of Roscommon that need inpatient surgery to indicate their preference to have their inpatient surgery treatment carried out at Roscommon County Hospital”

• “Some statements recently have called for Roscommon people on inpatient surgery lists in Galway hospitals to be referred back by the Health Service Executive to Roscommon for treatment. This of course is too late and not possible because the people and their General Practitioners have already opted for a hospital outside Roscommon. Roscommon people need to be convinced that they should opt to have their inpatient surgery treatment carried out at Roscommon County Hospital in the first instance”