This article is from page 2 of the 2009-12-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
THE HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) chief for acute hospitals in the mid-west has confirmed that they will press ahead with plans to close Ennis General Hospital’s in- tensive care unit next year.
John Hennessy also confirmed that as part of the HSE’s continuing reconfiguration of hospital services in the mid-west, certain aspects of acute medicine will be transferred from Ennis General to Limerick Re- gional Hospital.
He denied that the transfer of serv- ices from Ennis and Nenagh to Lim- erick Regional represents a further
downgrading of the county hospi- tals, which have already lost their 24-hour A&E and acute surgery ca- pabilities this year.
Mr Hennessy said, “Absolutely not. On the contrary, the opposite is the case.
“It is the opportunity to develop for the future at Ennis and Nenagh and provide a range of services that can and should be delivered locally to the highest possible standard.”
He said that currently, there are six intensive and coronary care beds at Ennis General.
As part of the reconfiguration, the HSE has made substantial progress in the past two months with the
development of a new critical care facility in Limerick for the entire mid-west.
“There are currently a total of 34 beds at the moment spread across four sites. The new facility will have 34 beds but capacity to go to 42 as resources permit.”
He admitted that the timescale for the transfer of critical care and acute medicine to be completed by the end of 2010 was “ambitious”.
“It may take a little bit longer than 2010, but the ultimate inten- tion would be to bring all critical care services into the one facility and adopt the same approach as was done in A&E and surgery.”
Stating that the transfer of acute medicine “is the most difficult”, he said: “You are talking a very broad range from paediatric right through to the care of the elderly.”
“Tt is a difficult one and the big- gest challenge is to only bring into the centre what’s needed and to de- lineate what can be done to a high standard in a remote location.
“That is what we are working De ROLUCSA a MrcIMmOsComman Copano Olmm-ba\e mmol AB DOTS help and assistance from clinical colleagues.”
Mr Hennessy said that there will be opportunities for more day case surgery and this would be developed in Ennis and Nenagh.