KILRUSH people have the furthest distance to travel to an A&E of any town in Ireland, according to a new report from the Central Statistics Office.
The new findings showed that the median distance of households to the median household distance to a HSE Emergency Department was 12.9 km, however Kilrush in Clare, along with Bantry and Skibbereen in Cork, all recorded median distances above 70km to their nearest HSE Emergency Department.
Clare Sinn Féin TD Donna McGettigan described the findings as appalling.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, the Shannon woman stated that “it is a disgrace that Kilrush is reported to be the furthest town in the state from an A&E. But what’s even worse is that smaller places such as Kilkee, Carrigaholt, Kilbaha and others are even further away from UHL. Many of us warned before Ennis 24-hour A&E was closed in 2009, and have warned since, that the people of West and North Clare would be endangered by the difficulty of accessing A&E care”, McGettigan highlighted.
“We have seen far too many tragedies since then. Option C of the HIQA report on urgent and emergency care in the Mid-West recommended building a new Model 3 hospital and it is my belief that this must be built in County Clare. The CSO report reinforces the need for this to be commenced as soon as possible”, the Sinn Féin representative continued.
McGettigan criticised the current Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD (FG) and the wider government for their inaction on providing a hospital service for West Clare, saying that “The minister for health has made it clear she is not even considering this option. What is worse is that government TDs in Clare appear to have accepted her decision. This is another example of the people of Clare being ignored by the government and of TDs putting their parties and careers ahead of the needs of the people who elected them”.
“The building of the new 96 bed unit at UHL has to be welcomed, but it has made very little difference to the wating lists, the number of people left on trollies and of course, does nothing to help those people in Clare who are well over 100 kilometres away from it I am calling on government TDs in Clare to finally stand up and demand the health care their constituents so badly and obviously need”, the Shannon woman concluded.
