GPs HAVE warned that "lives will be lost "and patient care affected" by the Government decision to close Roscommon County Hospital's emergency department from next Monday.
Residents opposed to the downgrading have also pledged to continue their campaign while Siptu has condemned the decision.
"We knew it was coming, but this is still a big shock," Roscommon Hospital Action Committee spokesman John McDermott said.
HSE West made the announcement at a hastily organised press conference just a week after it refused to confirm reports of the department's impending closure.
HSE West said the department would be replaced by an "urgent care centre" at the hospital, from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week. It said there would be an "enhanced ambulance service, and a medical assessment unit". An out-of-hours "Westdoc" GP service would be located on the hospital grounds.
Acute emergency services are to be provided by surrounding acute hospitals, including Portiuncula, Ballinasloe and University Hospital Galway, Sligo General Hospital and Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar, Co Mayo, depending on "the location".
HSE West regional director of operations John Hennessy said he could give a "cast-iron assurance that there is no question of hospital closure" and "no question of job losses".
Clinical director of Galway Roscommon Hospital Group Dr David O'Keeffe said the issue related to Health Information and Quality Authority requirements for smaller hospitals.
No ambulances would go to Roscommon, and an "enhanced service" would involve provision of an extra rapid response vehicle - but not an extra ambulance - HSE West confirmed.
GPs in the county catchment area have warned of serious consequences. "Every GP in the . . . catchment area [ counties Roscommon, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Galway, Westmeath and Sligo] is appalled at the proposed downgrading of the hospital and the effect it will have on patient care and safety," a statement issued yesterday said.
"We are in no doubt that lives will be lost and patient outcomes will be adversely affected," it said.
Dr Martin Daly, spokesman for the GPs, said: "My colleagues are very angry that they should be asked to provide a service which facilitates the downgrading of the hospital, given their concerns about the capacity of other hospitals to cope with the extra load and safety issues associated with that."
Mr McDermott said the offer of a clinic on hospital grounds for the out-of-hours co-op was a "cynical attempt to give the impression there is a service at the hospital".
Meanwhile, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has said there were 20 per cent more patients on trolleys in emergency departments in the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year. Some 46,000 patients were on trolleys waiting for beds between January and June. There were three times more patients on trolleys in the emergency department of University Hospital Galway, one of the hospitals to which Roscommon patients are to be diverted, than in the same period in 2006.