AN urgent meeting with HSE chief executive Brendan Drumm is to be sought by elected representatives from Laois County Council to address concerns over the future of two hospitals in the county.
The meeting is being sought to discuss the future of both Shaen Hospital in Portlaoise, which is earmarked for closure, and St Vincent’s Hospital in Mountmellick which has had one of its wards closed.
Cllr Willie Aird told the November meeting of
the council that they could “not take the hit”, should the hospitals be allowed to close. “The general public expects us to do a little bit better than us just getting letters back from the Minister for Health’s secretary,” he said.
Shaen Hospital had been kept open in the lean times, but now was being closed shortly after the most prosperous years in the history of the State, he said. “Not one person in the community supports the closures. The Dáil deputies seem to have no say. Have we got no democracy?” Cllr Aird asked.
The HSE is “running amok” he added, stressing that they were now proposing the closure of hospitals which are “running well”.
“We have to act now or we are not defending the people who have worked hard all their lives,” Cllr Aird said.
Cllr Tom Mulhall said he thought that they had already written to the HSE requesting a meeting with their officials. Laois County Manger Peter Carey confirmed that they had written to the HSE and he had also spoken with the HSE’s regional manager.
There were already two public meetings and there would be marches and further public meetings, such is the concern about the hospitals, Cllr Seamus McDonald said.
It was important that elderly people are looked after in their own community, Cllr Brian Stanley said. He added this also gave their family and elderly friends a greater opportunity to visit them. He said the people in Shaen are “very happy there”.
It had been outlined that Shaen would close when a new unit opens in Portlaoise in 2013, Cllr Kathleen O’Brien said. In the case of St Vincent’s Hospital, she was concerned that a ward would be closed each year, and it would be claimed that there was no need for the facilities, after the intake of patients had been restricted.
The closure of Shaen was a “money saving exercise,” said Cllr Paul Mitchell, whose father worked their as a psychiatric nurse.
“It would be a shame,” Cllr Martin Phelan said, “if this council stood idly by and didn’t alert everybody of the consequences”. A special meeting was required, which the HSE should be invited to, he said.
Due to the staff recruitment embargo, Cllr Paddy Bracken said 20 beds had been lost at the hospital in Mountmellick. This hospital looked after the elderly of Mountmellick and from throughout Laois, as well as parts of Offaly, he said.
The correspondence before them was a result of issues raised at a previous meeting, Cllr Jerry Lodge said. He said Minister Mary Harney was the “best pen pal” to councils around the country as her department constantly sent letters acknowledging correspondence from them. “We need to ask the three Deputies from this county to arrange a meeting with Professor Drumm.
