Strike action on the cards at County Hospital
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
STRIKE action by staff at Roscommon County Hospital could be on the cards amid further fears of job cuts and downgrading of services at the hospital.
In the starkest warning yet, outgoing CEO of the HSE, Professor Brendan Drumm specifically highlighted the Galway/Roscommon area in comments made over the weekend regarding cuts in the health service budget.
John McCarrick, sectoral organiser for the Roscommon SIPTU branch, said it was "necessary to hold a protective strike ballot in case the HSE decides to implement the sort of cuts which had been in the media in recent days."
Local TD Denis Naughten has described the comments as "the latest proof of the HSE's intention to downgrade Roscommon Hospital".
Prof. Drumm stated that keeping four hospitals open overnight in the Roscommon/Galway area cannot be justified as the activity carried out during those hours is extremely small.
“Prof. Drumm may believe keeping our hospital open 24 hours a day cannot be justified but maybe he should try telling that to the people whose lives have been saved by the very existence of the hospital. Perhaps he should listen to the people who told their stories at public meetings on the future of the hospital, people who were only around to do so because Roscommon Hospital was open on a 24/7 basis," stated Denis Naughten.
“Last month we heard the Minister for Health stating that Roscommon Hospital would cease to act as a stand alone facility and now the comments made by Prof Drumm are a further indication, if one was needed, of the HSE's plans to downgrade services at Roscommon County Hospital. It is unthinkable that people who suffer a stroke or heart attack in the middle of the night could be forced to travel as far as UCHG, a hospital that is already struggling to cope, for treatment."
Denis Naughten continued: "The HSE has consistently indicated that it plans to relocate services from Roscommon Hospital to Galway and Prof. Drumm's comments only serve to underline this further. While the Government and the HSE will no doubt argue that any move should not be viewed as a downgrading the reality is that the HSE is implementing the Hanly Report which remains Government policy.
"We have already seen the Joint Department of Surgery between Roscommon and Portiuncula shelved, with the HSE now appointing the new surgeons to Galway and Portiuncula, ignoring the previous commitment between Roscommon and Portiuncula. Now we have this thinly veiled threat to the future of the Hospital on a 24/7 basis.
At yesterday's (Monday) meeting of Roscommon County Council, Hospital Action Committee councillors Valerie Byrne and Paula McNamera warned that there are real concerns regarding the future of services at the hospital and said that by the end of the year 20 nurses will have gone from the hospital and will not be replaced.
Cllr. Byrne called on a letter to be sent from Roscommon County Council to the HSE outlining the need for the moratorium on recruitment of frontline staff to be removed. "We cannot let the frontline services suffer and we should urge other councils in the west of the country to do the same, in writing to the HSE" she said. The proposal was seconded by Cllr. McNamera.
Cllr. Paddy Kilduff said that the government had not yet made any decision on the hospital and said that Fianna Fail had delivered on the hospital in the past and that he would be " the first person to say mea culpa if Fianna Fail let down the people of Roscommon on the hospital issue."
Cllr. Kilduff also said that he felt by the way the HAC were talking that "they want people to die on the roadside". Following calls from the HAC councillors to withdraw his statement, councillor Kilduff said he apologised for "giving that impression".
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