Hospital Groups around the country are organizing a protests at under pressure A&Es in Navan, Drogheda, Limerick, Cavan, Ennis and Mullingar on Monday as the pressure on A&Es worsens. Speaking in advance of the protest Meath West TD and Save Navan Hospital Campaign Chair Peadar Toíbin told Meath Live “People have had enough of the unmitigated disaster unfolding in A&Es across the country. Its costing lives. Last night sick children were forced to sleep in cars in the car park of Drogheda Pediatric A&E due to the lack of space in that A&E.
Six nights ago 11 ambulances waited 5 hours just to offload sick patients into a full adult A&E in the same hospital. There were no ambulances available in Cavan and Monaghan for an extended period of time because so many ambulances were tied up in Drogheda. 17 Consultants in Drogheda and 4 in Mullingar have written to the Minister for Health to warn him of the impending threat to life and health if the bypass and closure of Navan A&E proceeds. And Limerick University Hospital remains a war zone due to the closure of Nenagh and Ennis. We have record A&E waiting times and trolley counts”.
“The way the Government and the HSE are managing this health crisis is a disaster and its getting worse. People are furious as the old and infirm and being left for hours with out treatment. People are furious at the dangerous position staff are being put in. We are urging citizens to join these protests at 1pm on Monday. People are furious at the fact that HSE senior management are ignoring the Minister for Health. In relation to Navan Hospital the HSE gave the 30th of June as the closure date for Navan A&E. A publicly embarrassed Minister had to cancel that plan.
They then gave a date for ambulance bypass of Navan saying they had Ministerial authority. It turns out they did not. They were directed to implement a slimmed down ambulance bypass and duly ignored this too, issuing the original protocol to ambulance staff yesterday contradicting the Minsters directions”.
“In a democracy the public servants do what they are told to do by the elected representatives. The HSE are inverting the democratic process. It is critical that the Minister gets a grip of the situation. Its critical that we stop closing A&E capacity in an A&E capacity crisis and starting investing in front line services now before its too late for many people.
