Health board is urged to sell two Kilkenny hospitals

The South Eastern Health Board has been advised to sell two of Kilkenny's three hospitals and use the money to develop facilities elsewhere. The recommendations, contained in an internal report compiled by the board's chief executive officer and a group of experts, would see the closure of St Canice's Psychiatric Hospital and Kilcreene Hospital, a former sanatorium which now houses an orthopaedic unit.

The land attached to the buildings would be worth "some millions", according to a source. Meanwhile, services would be transferred to the city's largest hospital, St Luke's Hospital, and to Waterford Regional Hospital.

The report, commissioned last May, was posted to health board members yesterday evening. The proposals are expected to be voted on at the board's October meeting.

The CEO, Mr John Cooney, described the proposals as "an internal health board management plan" which involved the use of "Kilkenny assets for Kilkenny people". He stressed that none of St Canice's Hospital's 200 jobs or Kilcreene Hospital's 40 jobs would be lost and said nobody's work contract would be forcibly changed.

Mr Cooney said St Canice's Hospital had become "redundant" in recent years, with the number of patients falling from 400 to the current 100, of which 45 would soon be transferred to a purpose-built unit already earmarked for the city's St Luke's Hospital. Another 30 patients were more suitable to community care, leaving only a "small residue" of inmates at St Canice's.

Kilcreene Hospital, he added, was a former sanatorium built in the 1940s which, since the decline of TB, had been used to house an orthopaedic unit, currently treating some 30 patients. The building was in "very poor physical condition", and "to refurbish it to the required standard would cost millions".

Under the proposals, the orthopaedic services would go to Waterford Regional Hospital. A new unit for elderly patients would also be provided at St Luke's Hospital.

The review of Killkenny's hospitals involved Mr Cooney and a group of "about a dozen" experts. These included doctors, medical consultants and service managers. Announcing the review, Mr Cooney said it would form the basis of health board policy for a generation.

However, the local Fine Gael TD, Mr Phil Hogan, said the plan was "a bombshell" and a "major mistake in policy". He claimed the reported recommendations were a response to pressure from the Department of Health.

Quoted in the Kilkenny People, he blamed the "dramatic change of policy of the present Minister for Health, Brian Cowen, whereby he is telling the health board to sell its land and properties in order to get the necessary money to invest in hospital improvements and new facilities".

However, Mr Cooney said there was no such pressure. "The review is an internal management planning blueprint and the Department has had no input to it. If the board approves the proposals, I will be writing to the Department about them."