Dail votes have hinged on it, elections have been fought and won over it, and for many in Co Roscommon the county hospital will always be associated with the former Independent TD, Mr Tom Foxe.
It was on the "hospital ticket" that Mr Foxe, a publican and agricultural adviser, was first elected in the old three-seater constituency of Roscommon in 1989 - ousting Fianna Fail's Sean Doherty to boot.
Sadly for Mr Foxe, he lost out in the redrawn Longford-Roscommon constituency last time round. He survived to the fifth count, after a bitterly fought contest which had Fine Gael's Senator Louis Belton ("it's all the way with Louis J") promising to find a wife if he was returned. And he was. The engagement notice is eagerly awaited . . .
Recently, Roscommon General Hospital has been back in the news due to overcrowding and delays in the accident and emergency department. The pressure increased over Christmas, prompting the Western Health Board to take a series of emergency steps and announce a £600,000 investment package.
The emergency steps include opening up the day care area as a temporary medical assessment area for the accident and emergency department and appointing a co-ordinator with responsibility for services for older people. This co-ordinator will work actively to ensure that older people are cared for where possible in their own homes.
An improved nursing and home help service will also be introduced immediately at weekends, the health board has said.
A total of £300,000 will be spent on capital works, to enable the hospital to increase its throughput of patients, provide hospice and ancillary accommodation and renovate the surgical ward. Work had already begun on this development, following initial approval of the expenditure last May under the previous coalition government, and it is expected to be completed by March.
This month, a further £300,000 allocation was approved by the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, to develop the accident and emergency department, and to provide a helicopter landing pad.
In addition, the Minister gave the go-ahead for a second consultant surgeon at the county hospital. The WHB's chief executive officer, Dr Sheelah Ryan, said the board was now engaging in a three-to-five-year programme to establish Roscommon as "a modern and forward-looking acute hospital for the future".