SENIOR HEALTH Service Executive officials refused to clarify plans for the future of emergency services at Roscommon County Hospital when they met trade unions last evening.
Following a two-hour meeting, Pádraig Mulligan, general secretary with Impact in the west, said the HSE had made it clear it would be making no announcement on what was planned for the hospital and that any announcement in relation to changes to services would only be made by Minister for Health James Reilly, probably next week.
Earlier this week staff at the hospital were given the impression following a meeting with HSE officials that 24-hour emergency services would come to an end in two weeks and that the emergency department could be replaced with a minor injuries unit, as had happened at Ennis and Nenagh General Hospitals.
In addition, when Taoiseach Enda Kenny visited the outskirts of Athlone to open a constituency office for the Roscommon-South Leitrim Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten on Monday he made it clear the hospital’s future would change.
Mr Mulligan said the HSE West’s regional director of operations John Hennessy insisted at lyesterday’s meeting that no decision had been taken on the removal of services from Roscommon hospital, which deals with about 13,000 emergency presentations a year – significantly fewer than most other hospitals.
However, he confirmed contingency plans were being drawn up which cited a range of options for the future of the hospital if it could not secure sufficient junior doctors to staff the hospital’s emergency department around the clock from July 11th, when junior doctors in training rotate posts.
Under these plans, patients requiring emergency services after hours could be diverted to hospitals in Sligo, Mullingar, Ballinasloe or Castlebar, as well as University Hospital Galway.
The unions were also told, Mr Mulligan said, that a plan for the hospital’s future would be forwarded by the HSE to Dr Reilly tomorrow and unions would be consulted about before it is finalised.
“I’m frustrated at the lack of information and also determined that our members and Roscommon hospital will have a long-term future,” he said.
Noreen Muldoon, industrial relations officer with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation in the west, said the meeting was unsatisfactory. However it was clear, she said, that changes were on the way for the hospital.
A public meeting on the hospital’s future is due to take place in Roscommon tonight.