This article is from page 2 of the 2007-07-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
THE Ennis General Hospital De- velopment Committee has vowed to regroup and mount a campaign to maintain 24-hour accident and emer- gency care at the hospital.
A special meeting was held last evening after leaks from a review of acute services in the mid-west sound- ed the death knell for 24-hour con- sultant-led accident and emergency services at the county hospital.
Leaks from the review carried out by Horwarth Consulting Ireland, in association with British-based Team- work Management Services, points to the closure of the 24-hour depart- ments in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s Hospital in Limerick.
A spokesperson for the HSE said at the weekend that the controversial review was “still underway and ex- pected in early autumn.”
Chairman of the Ennis General Hospital Development Committee, Peadar McNamara, said that the eroup were planning mass demon- strations and would begin an intense political lobby.
He said the committee intend to send representations to all the gov- ernment party leaders and the inde- pendent members of the government, as well as to the CEO of the HSE, the Mid West Network Manager and En- nis General Hospital Manager.
Just two of Clare’s candidates in last May’s General Election said they would resign from government if the
accident and emergency facilities at the hospital were downgraded.
The only female candidates, Fine Gael Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn and Sinn Féin’s Anna Prior, both said that if their parties were in gov- ernment, they would insist that full services were retained at the hospi- tal. Neither of the candidates were elected despite their commitment.
Likewise, veteran politician Brendan Daly said he would not run for Fianna Fail in the election without a guaran- tee that services at the hospital were retained. He lost out on a seat, despite reassurances from the minister for health and the Taoiseach that accident and emergency would be retained.
However, CEO of the HSE, Profes- sor Brendan Drumm, has never come
out in favour of 24-hour accident and emergency in Ennis.
“Speaking on a personal level, what flabbergasts me about the election is that nine out of 10 people voted for those who planned the implementa- tion of Hanley and the closure, and most of those who voted for them were people in the periphery or the county and at the highest risk,’ said Mr McNamara, chairman of the En- nis General Hospital Development Committee.
“Eleven out of 20 people did not vote for the closure of accident and emergency and Hanley and their wishes are being undemocratically ignored by the outgoing government parties and the new allies in govern- ment,” he said.