Monaghan By-pass opens what difference will it make

westtip

RTE News Website report: The Ceann Comhairle, Rory O'Hanlon, had to be protected from a large crowd by gardaí when he arrived for the official opening of the new Monaghan bypass.

A crowd of up to 7,000 people had gathered as part of a campaign to secure the future of the local hospital.

The crowd barracked and jeered Mr O'Hanlon, who is from the area, and he had to be surrounded by up to eight gardaí.

Members of the Monaghan Community Alliance say the casualty unit in Monaghan is to close - a claim denied by the Health Service Executive.

The Minister of State for Transport, Pat the Cope Gallagher, conducted the opening.

Ok, so this bypass is now opened amid the furore of the hospital protestations - how much difference timewise will it make to the journey from north of Monagahan to say Dundalk or Drogeheda - I noticed one protestor today holding up a placard saying Drogeheda One Hour 30 minutes - I find this pretty hard to believe, is it an exageration or does it really take that long to get from Monaghan to Drogheda? Said this before on another thread but if N53 from Dundalk to the N2 was upgraded and with Castleblayney by-passed and the N2 upgraded how far would this place Monaghan town from hospital services in Dundalk and Drogheda in drivetime as opposed to distances. I sometimes think these protestors still think we are living in a time when our regional roads meant the average drivetime was 25 mph. It would be nice to have huge hospital facilities in every small town, but this simply isn't possible so the best we can do is bring small towns closer to each other with good transport linkages, this is what the government should be trying to convey they are doing and what the roads programme means in terms of every day lives.

ardmacha

You might live in Co Monaghan 15 or 20 minutes from Monaghan town and consequently 1 hour 30 from Drogheda. Of course if there was snow, fog etc it would take much longer.

In reality geography, and consequently travel time, plays little role in medical planning. Drogheda is proposed to be a main hospital for an area than extends only a few km south of Drogheda, but extends all the way to North Monaghan.

That these problems arise in Monaghan and Cavan is also a result of the pointless partitionism that characterises public planning. A patient in Glaslough will be carted to Drogheda rather than Craigavon, which is only half the distance. Similarily a patient in Cullaville will be brought over indifferent roads to Craigavon instead of a 30 min journey to Drogheda! In the past there may have been high level obstacles to cross-border rationalisation, but now it is just that bureaucrats couldn't be bothered organising the paperwork.

westtip

Well I couldn't agree more about the partitionist elements of health care in the BMW region - the fact Letterkenny has a regional hospital alongside Derry, that those living in Manhorhamilton need to go to Sligo instead of Enniskillen, the whole thing (the border) makes nonsense of public planning in a country this size... not to amention two sets of civil servants and two huge public sector pay bills to meet.

Wishbone Ash

westtip wrote:

Letterkenny has a regional hospital alongside Derry,

AFAIK the nearest Regional Hospital to Letterkenny is Galway. Letterkenny's hospital is usually referred to as 'Letterkenny General Hospital'.

PS - I thought this thread was about Monaghan by-pass (Commuting & Transport!)

westtip

Wishbone Ash wrote:

AFAIK the nearest Regional Hospital to Letterkenny is Galway. Letterkenny's hospital is usually referred to as 'Letterkenny General Hospital'.

PS - I thought this thread was about Monaghan by-pass (Commuting & Transport!)

I think you are right about Letterkenny, it's nearest regional I think would be Sligo both are within the NWHB, but there you go, if you need hospital services in Letterkenny that can't be provided locally - where do you go - Sligo. why not derry - answer because of that stupid line drawn across the country. In fact I think the the NWHB and NHS work together on this one.

Yes this is off thread - but the point about the Monagahan by-pass - and part of the reason we need good roads is to make the journeys we need to make to centres of critical mass - hospitals, large shopping centres etc are made all the more easier if the road network is better.

Wishbone Ash

westtip wrote:

I think you are right about Letterkenny, it's nearest regional I think would be Sligo both are within the NWHB

Apologies for being pedantic but Sligo General is not a regional Hospital either!


Western Region


This Region incorporates Network 4, Network 5 and Network 7.

Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, Galway, Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary make up the Western Region.

There are 14 Acute Hospitals in this Region. For further details on these hospitals, please click on the relevant link below:

Network 4:

Sligo General Hospital
Letterkenny General Hospital
Our Lady's Hospital, Manorhamilton

Network 5:

University College Hospital, Galway
Mayo General Hospital
Portiuncula Hospital Ballinasloe
Merlin Park Regional Hospital, Galway
Roscommon County Hospital

Network 7:

Mid Western Regional Hospital, Dooradoyle
Mid Western Regional Maternity Hospital, Limerick
Mid Western Regional Hospital, Ennis
Mid Western Regional Hospital, Nenagh
Mid Western Regional Orthopaedic Hospital, Croom
St. John's Hospital, Limerick

westtip

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Apologies for being pedantic but Sligo General is not a regional Hospital either!


[B
Well you learn something everyday - it all means the roads need to be bette so we can all get to our regional hospitals safer and quicker. Going back to Monaghan - I always feel that county gets a raw deal being effectively a pennisular pointing into the other jurisdicition, Maybe they should get to keep their hospital for having had such a raw deal all these years.