*pictured: Noeleen Moran. Photo by Martin Molloy
CAMPAIGNERS are seeking a show of strength from Clare people at a “critical” moment in the delivery of healthcare services in the Mid West.
A protest in response to the ongoing overcrowding crisis at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) is planned for Limerick city on January 21.
The Mid West Hospital campaign group say it is important Clare people attend to deliver the message that the situation at UHL can no longer be tolerated.
“We really want as many people as possible to turn out. It is a critical time and we have to show that the situation in Mid West has to change”, Noeleen Moran of the Mid West hospital campaign told The Clare Echo.
Ms Moran continued, “It really is crunch time and we have to show that enough is enough. I think things have changed since professor Declan Lyons spoke on RTE about how mistakes were made when hospital services were reconfigured in the Mid West”.
A bus organised by Women’s Collective Ireland, Clare; Clare PPN and the Traveller Community Development Project, will leave the TempleGate Hotel, Ennis on the morning of January 21.
A major internal incident declared in UHL on January 2 has been stood down but reductions in elective surgery in UHL and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital remain in force.
Day surgery remains cancelled at Ennis, Nenagh Hospital and St John’s Hospital in Limerick.
In a major change to health policy, non-critical patients were brought by ambulance to the medical assessment unit (MAU) at Ennis general hospital this week for the first time in almost 11 years.
Ms Moran said, “This is an important step in the right direction but it is only a small step. Patients can be brought to Ennis if they meet the clinical criteria and if there is space in the MAU. The resources are needed to ensure there is space in Ennis to treat patients. There is no point in rolling out 24/7 services if the capacity and resources are not there and we’ve had no mention of that. GPs and ShannonDoc are already referring people to Ennis so if there is no space in the MAU for ambulance patients, they will go to a Limerick. But one of the benefits of this is that ambulances that bring people to Ennis will then be in the county and will be available if there is a call out in Clare”.
