THE HEALTH Service Executive has said “no final decision” has been made on the future of Roscommon County Hospital’s emergency department, but there will be “changes” for patient safety reasons.
It is understood HSE West has proposed that Roscommon’s emergency department should be closed completely in a fortnight’s time, on July 11th, with critical cases being referred to University Hospital Galway.
On a visit to Roscommon on Monday, Taoiseach Enda Kenny had signalled the department would no longer operate on a 24-hour basis from that date.
As uncertainty continued over the future of hospital services yesterday, Fianna Fáil’s health spokesman Billy Kelleher called on Mr Kenny and Minister for Health James Reilly to “personally apologise” to the people of Roscommon for “cynical election pledges” to save all services there.
The Roscommon Hospital Action Committee has condemned the planned closure, while GPs have expressed serious concern about the lack of public information from the HSE on the issue.
Dr Martin Daly, a GP on the Roscommon-Galway border, said GPs had sought a reassurance from HSE West there would be “safe access to emergency services and adequate capacity at other medical centres, along with an expanded ambulance and paramedic service and out-of-hours GP cover, if the closure proceeds”.
“The HSE was attempting to reassure GPs at a meeting on Monday that the reasons for closing casualty were to do with safe service, and that it would be addressing all the issues raised,” Dr Daly said.
The HSE said last night that “while no final decision has been taken with regard to the Roscommon emergency department”, a shortage of non-consultant hospital doctors and concerns expressed by the Health Information and Quality Authority about patient safety meant “changes”.
These “changes” related to “how services are being delivered at the hospital, including in the emergency department”, it said.
“There are a number of proposals under consideration as part of an ongoing planning process in conjunction with hospital staff, local GPs and the ambulance service,” the HSE said.
Roscommon Hospital Action Committee spokesman John McDermott, who contested the general election, said his group had learned the coronary care unit would also be closed. Surgery would be cut back to daytime services only, and there would be no increase in ambulance and paramedic services, under HSE West proposals, he said.
Currently, the county has one ambulance on night-time duty, he said.
“About 15,000 patients go through Roscommon hospital’s emergency department, 90 per cent of whom are admitted, and there were 818 patients on trolleys there between January 1st and mid-June this year,” he said.
Mr McDermott said the committee had received a written commitment from Dr Reilly before the election that Fine Gael in government would retain all services at the hospital.
Mr Kelleher also referred to the Minister’s open letter to the people of Roscommon before the general election, and said that Dr Reilly had made “explicit and, quite frankly, deeply cynical promises”.
The action committee is holding a public meeting on the issue in Roscommon town tomorrow night.