Members of the Nenagh Hospital Action Group held the first of many expected protest vigils outside Nenagh hospital, Co. Tipperary on Monday evening last. This action follows on from the leaked announcement in November last that :-
• Acute surgery and overnight medical treatment will be moved to the Mid West Regional Hospital in Dooradoyle, Limerick.
• Accident and Emergency services in the hospital will be reviewed and will become nurse-led.
• Critical care services will be reviewed. Note, the elderly care unit in Nenagh hospital was already closed for last summer.
This announcement now firmly places the future of Nenagh Hospital, which has had a CT scanner unused and collecting dust for over 1.5 years, firmly in the category of a day care centre offering only minor day surgery in a nurse led outpatient diagnostic clinic.
The situation was simply explained by one protester who stated:- “This hospital service now being offered to the people of North Tipperary is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike, and political heads must now roll”.
This announcement when fully implemented will mean that any overnight surgery must now take place in Limerick, thereby creating untold hardship for the people of North Tipperary and adding one hour extra travelling time to patients from Thurles , in need of emergency treatment.
At a recent previous protest meeting demanding that Prof. Brendan Drumm, head of the Health Service Executive, should now come out and explain his future plans for acute services in Mid West Hospitals, the North Tipperary Fianna Fail TD, Mrs Maire Hoctor was booed off the podium and prevented from speaking.
Addressing the vigil on Monday night last, North Tipperary Labour Party Senator Alan Kelly, hit out at the planned downgrading of the hospital and called on the HSE to reconsider their decision even at this late hour. He stated:
“The people of Nenagh will continue to fight for the same quality of health service that is available in any other Irish city. We will chain ourselves to the gates if we have to. The people of North Tipperary will not be once again rolled over on this issue.”
We welcome your comments.
Leave a Reply