Transfer of acute care causes union rift

The transfer of acute services from Our Lady's Hospital in Cashel to South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel has led to a sharp difference of opinion between unions locally.

The transfer of A&E and surgical services from Cashel to a newly built specialist campus at South Tipperary General was completed last Friday. Elective services in Cashel have been wound down over the past two weeks and the remaining patients from the surgical wards and intensive care unit were transferred to Clonmel on Friday.

As well as A&E, the services transferred from Cashel include an oncology day service, breast and general surgery, medical treatment and surgery for children and palliative care for the elderly.

The amalgamation of acute services in South Tipperary is the result of the High Court agreed commitment signed in January 1996 by the former South Eastern Health Board and the Cashel Hospital Action Committee.

This included the provision of "letters of comfort" to 107 staff who were working in the Cashel hospital at that time and resulted in protracted industrial relations negotiations over the past two years.

Assistant branch organiser for Siptu in Tipperary, Martin Corbett, who represents the support staff at Our Lady's in Cashel said his members and the local community were far from happy with the move: "Siptu's position is that we are obviously concerned about our members and the level of the health services that are being taken from the community of Cashel.

"We would rather that these services were maintained in the area rather than closing down the doors for two years while Our Lady's Hospital is being refurbished and moving acute services to Cashel," he said.

Mr Corbett pointed out that if a person in Cashel was involved in a road traffic accident or had a heart attack, they would now have to travel 12-15 miles to the hospital in Clonmel.

"While staff who were employed at the hospital in Cashel pre-1996 got 'letters of comfort' from the High Court ensuring that they would not have to transfer, staff employed since 1996 had no option but to transfer and that involves a lot of disturbance for them. We did negotiate a good deal for them though," he said.

The Irish Nurses Organisation, which represents the 160 nurses involved in the transfer, say they are very happy with the package they negotiated through the Labour Relations Commission which includes financial compensation as well as a once-off annual leave to compensate for loss of earnings.

The extensive redevelopment of the Cashel campus will include community health services such as a 20-bed GP assessment and rehabilitation unit, a 15-bed convalescent care unit, a 25-bed specialist rehabilitation unit and a day hospital for older people.