Another emergency looms for Ennis hospital

THE threatened reduction of accident and emergency services at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis to just five hours, four-days-a-week, has been condemned as “crazy” by Deputy Timmy Dooley.

The HSE is considering cost-cutting measures at the hospital that could see services cut to 8am to 12 noon from Monday to Thursday, excluding bank holidays, within a fortnight, The Clare Champion has learned.
The emergency department, which is run under the direction of emergency care physicians, currently operates from 8am to 8pm, seven-days-a-week. The hospital has also developed an acute medical unit providing GPs with direct referral facilities.
However, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over this service and radiography cover following claims the HSE has imposed a ban on paying all agency staff and overtime at Ennis, in a bid to tackle a €20.3million overrun in the Mid-West.
Emergency care physicians in Ennis are currently employed on an agency basis and unless suitably qualified doctors can be recruited without incurring agency or overtime costs, the emergency department is facing the prospect of a dramatic reduction in its operating hours.
This is despite the fact Ennis is the only hospital in the region under budget, about 2.3%, according to HSE figures, compared to Limerick hospital, Croom Orthopaedic and the Regional Maternity, which are 20.4%, 26.9% and 28.1% over-budget this year
Describing the proposal as “crazy”, Deputy Dooley warned it would make an already “chaotic” overcrowding problem in Limerick hospital even worse. He called on Health Minister Dr James Reilly, to sit down with hospital managers in the region to avert the crisis facing Ennis hospital. If the emergency department at Ennis isn’t properly staffed, Deputy Dooley warned the non-life threatening cases, which were previously safely treated in Ennis, would have to go to Limerick, which cannot cope with its current workload.
“The ban on agency and overtime is a crude instrument to cut costs across the board, which will have a huge negative impact on health services in Clare,” he said.
The proposal has outraged HSE Forum West member, Councillor Brian Meaney, who said it is extremely difficult to recruit suitably qualified emergency care physicians to work in Ennis because of the current shortage of hospital doctors.
“Ennis hospital has taken more of its fair share of cutbacks. This is a step too far and is one I am vehemently opposed to. Ennis hospital has stayed within budget, while other acute hospitals in the west have driven a stagecoach through their own budgets,” he stated.