Further hospital cuts to come, warns IMO

The population of the north-east have nothing to look forward to but further cuts in local hospital services over the next two decades in the wake of the announcement that a new regional hospital will not be built by 2015, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) said this week as public concern grew over the future of local health resources. The IMO said it was "gravely concerned" about the way the Health Service Executive (HSE) has implemented cuts at Our Lady's Hosptial in Navan, the Louth County Hospital in Dundalk and Monaghan Hospital and, at the same time, failed to provide any viable alternative. Meanwhile, the Mayor of Navan, Cllr Joe Reilly, and independent councillor Brian Fitzgerald have also attacked the HSE decision to postpone the building of the new regional hospital. The first opportunity to discuss the implications of the decision will come next Tuesday, 1st September, when Navan Town Council is set to discuss the issue. Cllr Reilly said that he would be tabling a motion for that meeting. Meath County Council meets on 7th September and the HSE decision is expected to come under the spotlight also at that meeting. Navan Town Council invited the HSE to explain its decision in public but the HSE said that it was not possible to arrange such a meeting. Dr Illona Duffy, spokesperson for the IMO in the north-east, said that there was "huge concern" among its members about the implications of the HSE decision not to go ahead with the regional hospital, which was to be based at an as yet unidentified site in Navan. She said that the HSE's Transformation Plan was being implemented piecemeal without any meaningful discussions with stakeholders. She said that administrators in the HSE were "picking out pieces from the plan" and pushing them through "without any concern for the consequences". She said that IMO members had taken note of Minister Dermot Ahern's previous statement on the issue when he said that the hospital was unlikely to go ahead and that there was "not a red cent" in Government coffers to build it. "However, we had also taken note of the remarks of the former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern when he said that the resources would be provided in order to implement the Transformation Plan. The Taoiseach had criticised the HSE in the Dail for cutting services before putting in the necessary resources. What we are looking at now is the building of a new children's hospital in Dublin and no other hospital will be built for the next two decades," she added. Dr Duffy said that the HSE was "pushing everything into Drogheda when it clearly is not able to cope". Mayor Cllr Reilly said the timing of the HSE announcement on the regional hospital - "in the middle of August when many people are on holidays" - was significant. "They would know that there was no public forum in which the decision could be discussed and at which they could be made accountable. The HSE was issued with an invitation to come to our Navan Town Council meeting to explain the decision but that is not being taken up," he said. Cllr Brian Fitzgerald said his worst fears had been confirmed by the HSE announcement on the regional hospital. "I felt all along that this would be done. And I think the announcement that Navan would be the location for the new hospital was designed to put people off until after the June elections. It looks as if Dermot Ahern has got its way - he said that there was not a red cent to build the hospital and he was not contradicted by any FF politician in Meath," said Cllr Fitzgerald. He asked: "Where are the FF politicians in Meath? They are hiding. There are numerous cases where County Meath has been discriminated against in the provision of services, yet not one question has been asked by those politicians, never mind criticism." He said that the Regional Health Forum set up in the north-east was "powerless, useless, and meant to be nothing more than a talking shop". He went on: "The people of Meath will have to wake up to what is happening - services critical to their health are being shifted away from Navan into Drogheda and anywhere else you like, and no-one is being consulted about it."