Limerick Regional Hospital Funding Cut By €1.39m
Issued : Wednesday 6 January, 2010
Limerick City Labour T.D. and Party Spokesperson on Health Jan O’Sullivan has today critised the decision to cut over €1.39m from the operating budget of Limerick Regional Hospital. The decision to cut the hospitals funding is part of the HSE’s ‘Casemix Efficiency Measures’.
Deputy O’Sullivan stated that this cut is totally unfair and will significantly place more pressure on the hospital which is already completely under resourced to cope with the huge numbers now presenting for treatment at the hospital.
When reconfiguration was announced for the Mid-West I predicted that they would cut services in St. Johns Hospital, Nenagh, and Ennis without the extra necessary resources being put into the Regional Hospital and that is exactly what is happening.
Figures published today show that nearly 10,000 less patients attended the A&E units in Nenagh and Ennis from January 2009 to October 2009 compared to January 2008 – October 2008. These cases are now coming into Limerick Regional while at the same time wards remain closed in St. Johns Hospital.
The staff in the Regional are constantly trying to provide an efficient professional and caring service to patients with virtually no extra resources being provided. The planned critical care unit and the promised additional beds and diagnostic services have to date not been delivered. Frontline staff including nurses are now considering strike action in order to highlight the worsening working conditions now prevailing in the hospital.
This situation has become intolerable particularly for the patients in Limerick Regional Hospital due to the downgrading of A&E sevices in other hospitals located throughout the greater Mid West area and I am calling on the senior management in the HSE to act immediately and resolve this serious situation.
