A statement on the future of surgical services at Monaghan General Hospital is expected from the North Eastern Health Board this morning.
While national attention continues to focus on the non-consultant hospital doctors' dispute at Waterford Regional Hospital, and on its potential to spread, hospital services in the north-east continue to generate controversy.
Yesterday the Irish Nurses' Organisation accused the NEHB of "careless if not callous treatment of acute patients".
It said that at one stage this week 22 patients were waiting on trolleys in the Accident and Emergency department of Cavan General Hospital while 100 acute beds lay idle in Monaghan General Hospital.
Cavan General Hospital closed its doors to admissions at 6 p.m. that evening, it said.
Meanwhile, patients waiting to be transported by ambulance to other centres faced delays of up to six hours, the INO said. In a response, the NEHB agreed that "the present situation where Monaghan Hospital is off-call since July 2nd is not sustainable and is placing increasing pressure on the other four hospitals in the region".
It repeated its support for an arrangement which would allow surgery to take place in Monaghan General Hospital from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.
Monaghan General Hospital has been off-call for emergencies, and surgery there has been disrupted, because the hospital does not meet the requirements for the training of anaesthetists.
This means the hospital cannot recruit non-EU trainee anaesthetists, a crucial source of manpower for the running of the State's hospitals.
A compromise suggested by the College of Anaesthetists would see Cavan General Hospital and Monaghan General Hospital regarded as one unit for this purpose, with trainee anaesthetists from Cavan attending at Monaghan five days a week.
The proposal has angered many local people who see it as representing a downgrading of the hospital. They argue that additional resources should be made available to the hospital to enable it to provide a full service.
However, the NEHB says it believes that "the proposal facilitated by the College of Anaesthetists provides the basis for a long-term, safe, viable and sustainable service at Monaghan". Its statement this morning is expected to re-emphasise this position.
Ms Patsy Doyle, the INO's industrial relations officer in the region, yesterday accused the health board and the Minister for Health and Children of "putting bureaucracy first and the provision of healthcare second".
"This rigid treatment of patients and staff is careless if not callous and we are seeking the urgent intervention of the Minister to fulfil his promises to the people of Monaghan immediately," she added.
But the NEHB insisted it was "committed to the provision of a significant and substantial level of services at Monaghan Hospital in accordance with board policy".
Earlier this week Sinn Féin's health spokesman, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD, released to the media a copy of a notice issued by Cavan General Hospital to local GPs which stated that services were in a "crisis situation" as regards the availability of beds. The NEHB later said emergency patients at Cavan had got beds due to the discharge of in-patients.