This article is from page 11 of the 2012-09-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
CLARE patients destined to attend the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick can prepare for a winter of even more bed closures, cut backs and staff shortages as the HSE battles to maintain the hospital budget.
The hospital in Dooradoyle, which now caters for seriously ill patients from Clare and Nenagh, has a budget over-run of € 14 million from the first seven months of this year.
The HSE was remaining silent on the affects this over-run will have on services, but those close to the hospital warned of “more of the usual end of year cuts”.
The latest Health Service Executive performance report, dated the end of July, pointed to an 18.4 per cent overspend for the Limerick hospital compared to a 1.5 per cent over-spend for Ennis General Hospital, the equivalent of € 162,000.
The publication of the report came the morning after the vote of no confidence in the Minister for Health James Reilly.
During the course of the debate, Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Timmy Dooley questioned what he described as “his litany of broken promises to Clare”.
“Two years ago, the Minister and Taoiseach, who was then leader of the opposition, visited County Clare and made firm commitments regarding the delivery of health services in the county,” said Deputy Dooley.
“The Taoiseach talked about the retention of medical and cardiac services at Ennis General Hospital but, in recent weeks, the HSE has admitted that they will not be maintained. The best the Minister has been able to do is provide two local Fine Gael TDs with a firm letter saying no decision has yet been taken, while our Labour Party constituency colleague has said he is aware that the medical services the Taoiseach promised would be retained will be taken from Ennis General Hospital and the cardiac services that have been part of the service delivery mix will also be taken.”