Hospital Services Dail Éireann — 2026-06-24 ============================================================ Alan Dillon (FG), Mayo I thank Deputy Clarke for the opportunity to address the House today on an issue that I know is of real importance to her constituents and to the midlands. I am taking this Topical Issue debate on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. The HSE recognises the vital importance of timely access to neurological services for patients across the midlands and acknowledges the significant impact that delays in accessing specialist care can have on patients and their families. The HSE has advised that, currently, neurological services for patients in the midlands are provided through a combination of local services at Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar and specialist regional neurological services. While there is currently no onsite specialist neurological services at Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar, it is important to be clear that access to specialist neurological options for patients in the midlands is available through the established referral pathway to specialist services at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital. The HSE continues to monitor demand for neurological services in Mullingar and across the midlands and is working with clinical teams to maximise available capacity, improve patient pathways and ensure that patients are prioritised according to clinical need. Patients requiring urgent assessment continue to be seen as a priority through available referral pathways while every effort is being made to reduce waiting times for routine appointments. Indeed, the challenges facing neurological services are not unique to the midlands. The national clinical programme for neurology has acknowledged that demand for neurological services has grown significantly in recent years. To address this, the Minister for Health allocated significant investment in 2025 to expand regional neurological services. This included €4 million in funding for the recruitment of five additional consultant neurologists and six clinical nurse specialists specifically to support services in model 3 hospitals, including Mullingar. A further 16 neurological nurse specialist posts and three health and social care professional posts were funded across a range of specialist neurological services. The HSE anticipates that these positions will be filled during 2026, helping to address some of the service gaps identified and improve access to care for patients. This service development is supporting progress on the implementation of the HSE's model of care for neurology. The focus of the neurology initiative is aimed at improving access to appropriate neurological services; improving safety and quality in the delivery of patient-centred neurological care; and improving value for both patient and health services across neurological services. More broadly, the national clinical programme for neurology is actively working on a hub and spoke model to guide equitable neurology services across the country. This aligns with the health regions and aims to tackle the gaps in neurology services nationally. The model will include one model 4 hospital hub per health region, catering for the most complex neurological care. These sites will support model 3 spoke sites, including Mullingar, which will provide services for people with less complex needs. Many hospitals already have well-developed neurological services, but funding received in 2025 is enabling the delivery of phase 1 of the hub and spoke model. It is expected that this proposed hub and spoke model will enable a reduction in waiting lists and timely access to diagnosis and treatment and thus improve quality of life and prognosis for people with neurological symptoms. This will cater for people with all neurological conditions and will deliver on the Sláintecare principle of delivering care closer to the patient's home. Improving access to specialist care remains a priority for this Government and the HSE is continuing to work with the national clinical programme for neurology to strengthen neurological services. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:06+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-24