A NEW round of cost-cutting proposals, including the closure of 24-hour emergency services at Navan hospital and reducing the opening hours of the minor injuries unit at Dundalk hospital, are being examined by the Health Service Executive.
In a confidential draft plan, drawn up following a meeting on June 28th and seen by The Irish Times, the HSE also suggests closing 25 beds at Dundalk hospital, transferring orthopaedic surgery from Navan hospital to Cappagh hospital in Dublin, and possibly transferring outpatient clinics from Navan to other hospital sites.
However, it recoils from an earlier proposal to close Dundalk hospital following a statement by Minister for Health James Reilly that no hospital would be closed.
In addition, management of the Louth-Meath hospital group are to examine the possibility of charging hospital employees for parking for the first time. With 538 full-time staff in Navan, 288 in Dundalk and more than 1,400 in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, this would raise considerable revenue but is likely to be opposed by staff.
In relation to the proposal to limit the opening hours of the emergency department at Navan hospital to 12 hours a day, the document states a plan will have to be developed to measure the impact this would have on Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, which often has patients on trolleys in its emergency department as things stand.
Navan’s emergency department has also been earmarked for closure following Health Information and Quality Authority reports into the types of services that can be provided safely at smaller hospitals but last week Dr Reilly assured locals it will remain open for at least six months.
At present the minor injuries unit at Louth County Hospital, Dundalk, is open from 9am to 8pm seven days a week. The document suggests this could be restricted to 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday “with no weekend service”. The implications of this were to be examined, the document states.
All the cost-cutting proposals listed “require either implementation or further investigation on how they would be delivered and the impact associated with same”, the document states.
A spokeswoman for the HSE said yesterday the document referred to “is clearly labelled as draft and confidential and should be treated as such”. She said the proposals in the draft document have not been approved by the HSE and require further consideration and impact assessment before any decisions are taken.