Gormley queries Louth hospital plan

MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley has told Minister for Health Mary Harney that plans by the HSE to remove acute services…

MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley has told Minister for Health Mary Harney that plans by the HSE to remove acute services from Louth County Hospital in Dundalk would have “an adverse impact” on the planned “gateway” town.

In a strongly-worded letter sent to Ms Harney this week, the Green Party leader also said Dundalk had already been declared the “weakest” designated gateway in the National Spatial Strategy (NSS).

HSE plans will see the transfer of acute services such as AE away from Louth County Hospital and Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan, to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

The keystone of the transformation programme is a new regional hospital, but its delivery date has been put back to the next national development plan because of the economic downturn.

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Campaigners are seeking to retain acute services in Dundalk, and last night the Save Our Hospital committee held a march in the town.

Spokeswoman Anita McCann said the current C difficile outbreak in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital had seen patients being transferred to Dundalk, and “if it was not open as it is today what would have happened to them?”

“The HSE wants to take services away from hospitals with excellent records. We need to keep the intensive care, AE and acute medical services in Dundalk,” she said.

If the HSE plans proceed, “Dundalk could be the only gateway town in the country without an acute hospital”, said Louth Green Party councillor Mark Deary, who attended last night’s march.

“I am not going to second-guess the medical experts on best clinical practice but clearly the gateway designation for Dundalk in the National Spatial Strategy has not been taken into account by the HSE in deciding to remove emergency and acute services.

“Either we take regional planning seriously or we don’t. Taking acute medical services out of the town makes the gateway challenge almost impossible, particularly when you consider that we are already missing targets laid out in the NSS,” he said.

In his letter, Mr Gormley said: “In the context of providing appropriately-scaled health services, the impact of the ending of all acute and emergency services in the Louth County Hospital in the Dundalk gateway is likely to have an adverse impact on its ability to achieve the level of growth needed to become the key urban centre supporting the wider east Border region.”

A spokesperson for Ms Harney yesterday said the Minister had only just received the letter and had not yet read it.