The Tánaiste has accused opposition parties of scare mongering tactics in highlighting possible Emergency Department closures, writes Elaine Loughlin of the Irish Examiner.
Responding to reports that nine Emergency Departments are under threat of downgrading, shorter hours or closure of some kind and the removal of trauma facilities from them, Frances Fitzgerald has said there is “no intention” to close any down.
Speaking during leader’s questions in the Dáil this afternoon she added that a review of the “current fragmented arrangements for dealing with trauma in hospitals” is being carried out and in some trauma cases, such as those involved in car accidents, may be better off to be treated in a centralised facility.
Details revealed in the Sunday Business Post at the weekend show a draft copy of the Government’s draft report of its trauma steering group proposed cuts to services at nine hospitals.
The hospitals — Cavan General, Naas, Portiuncula in Ballinasloe, Kilkenny, Wexford, South Tipperary, Clonmel, and the Mercy University Hospital in Cork City — could now face cuts to trauma care services and these services would instead by amalgamated.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin told the Dáil that Emergency Departments already struggle to cope with overcrowding and any closures would be unacceptable.
“There was a time when the rows were over whether there would be an emergency department in a county. Based on this report, there will be regions without emergency departments if this trend continues,” he said.
Responding to similar questions from Sinn Féin’s Louise O’Reilly, the Tánaiste said: “There is no need for people going past their hospital emergency department tonight to have the kind of concern the Deputy is outlining – unless by statements in here that raise anxiety unnecessarily.”
But Ms O’Reilly said: “The concerns that are being raised are not raised in order to frighten people unnecessarily but because they are being raised directly with us. People know the record of this Government.
“They know it will lead with cuts, they know that it will cut first and ask questions later, and they are concerned.”
