A UNITED campaign in the Mid West to force the government to scrap the recently published Teamwork/Horwath Group Report, especially its recommendation of an A&E centralisation at the Mid West Regional Hospital in Dooradoyle, is called for this week by the Limerick branch of the Campaign for a Real Public Health Service.
The report’s recommendation to reconfigure acute hospital services in the Midwest is condemned by the group, which claims it will hugely increase the queues at the Dooradoyle hospital, thereby putting lives at risk,
Spokesperson, Cian Prendiville, said the development will mean that even people living right beside the Regional Hospital will be affected by the longer queues and worsened crisis there.
“We must get active and build a strong united campaign to defeat this policy of health cuts,” says Mr Prendiville, who refers to the report’s contention that the Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s A&Es do not have the necessary workload and staffing to qualify as viable, stand-alone A&E services to justify further local investment”.
Accusing the HSE of trying to divide and rule by claiming that St John’s will still treat the same amount of patients, Mr Prendiville says:
“The reality is that these patients will no longer have access to a consultant, merely an advanced nurse practitioner, unable to treat serious cases and not only does this make no sense, as St John’s is currently rated as the number one A&E in the country, it will also mean much more pressure on the already struggling Regional Hospital,” he said.
Urging people to join in the campaign against the health cuts, Mr Prendiville is calling for a united mass campaign throughout the Mid West and the rest of the country, and is asking those interested to contact Campaign for a Real Public Health Service (CRPHS) at [email protected]
