Ennis Hospital

CptSternn

I'm surprised no one has started a thread on the closing of the hospital. Anyone else bothered by this move?

Clareman

they are keeping the A&E open tho aren't they? Most people in the hospital get transfered to either Limerick, Cork or Galway anyway, I don't see much point in having the hospital open when they don't do much there anyway, in fact I would see it more as a convelance home now than a hospital (sorry, just my vho)

chuckles30

If you lived in west clare you would see the point of keeping Ennis hospital open & especially a&e!!!! If a&e in Ennis closes, people from the west of the county are looking at a minimum 2 hour journey to get to the a&e in Limerick. If that happens, lives will be lost......fact!! And despite that, people still voted FF back into govt.....it's just unbelievable. Also, I know from friends of mine that Limerick a&e is already bedlam, so I dread to think what the state of it will be if & when they close Ennis and Nenagh.

Another impact of the closure of Ennis is the additional time & money it would cost people to visit their sick family and friends. Remember it takes about an hour to get from Ennis hospital to Limerick Regional & at peak times, it could take more. Plus you have to pay for your parking in Limerick........if you're lucky enough to find a space. The whole plan just stinks!!!!!!!

Clareman

I agree with exactly what you are saying chuckles, as I said, I think they are keeping the A&E open, this is cruicial to the county, if anything I would move it out to somewhere nearer the middle of the county, but logisitically Ennis is the best choice.

chuckles30

The A&E is the first thing that's on the cards to go. They're talking about having some kind of nurse led injury clinic - in case you cut your finger or something. It's only a matter of 'when' from what I understand. Oh the politicians are all saying it's not going to happen, but it's only a matter of waiting for the hse to finish their report to implement it from what I understand.

CptSternn

FF made pledges to keep the A&E open, but policy papers released prior to the election stated they were going to close the A&E. As it looks now, they are dismantling Ennis General, piece by piece and will be closing the A&E after they try and quietly close all the other services people don't pay attention to first (like the mammogram unit they are closing now).

FF has policy papers outlining this. They made them available before the campaign, but during the elections all the local candidates claimed they had no idea those papers existed, and claimed they knew nothing of those plans, even though members of the public brought in copies and read aloud from them during one of the public meetings.

wuzziwig

Clareman I have to disagree with you when you say that it's now no more than a convalesence home. My appendix burst last year and I was rushed to Ennis general. I was not transferred to Limerick but admitted to Ennis Gen, had (possibly) life saving surgery there and spent 5 days there afterwards recovering. There were plenty of other cases like mine in there too. Ok the building and facilities are completely outdated but the care I got was second to none.

It was also very handy for my husband to visit me, while trying to care for our two very young children. I was close to home, people I work with, friends, family etc were able to pop in to see me. I think it's VITAL that this hospital is not only kept open but is also upgraded. I also think it's scandalous that Clare women have to travel to Limerick or Galway to give birth but that's a whole other story.

CptSternn

The Indymedia article from the march last week...

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84439

jobsrules

Surely it's not only the hospital beds that are at risk but what about the jobs also.

No just jobs in the hospital itself but what about the rented property market renting to medical and other staff, any shops that are by the hospital they'll loose business.

What about elderly people in the hospital their friends may not be able to visit.? Unlike a furniture store if a hospital closes it has knock on effects to a lot of people and not only the staff directly employed.

Would people with a petition standing in Dunnes or Tesco's arcade make any difference? I'd volunteer I'm used to campaigning on issues.

What about this committee I've heard about are they any good their AGM is on Monday is'nt it?

I'm sorry if I'm going over any old ground but I only moved here from the Kingdom a few months ago.

CptSternn

The AGM is tonight - 8:00PM @ The Auburn Lodge here in Ennis.

That being said there are a few things to note...

First, they are electing a new board. Why? The old board is 'stepping down'. On top of this, with the elections over FF is pulling it's support and it's members from the board. Now that they don't have to act like the really care, they are against the hospital and supporting their party in Dublin.

In fact, it looks like they are trying to turn the board over to another party by removing their people so when the hospital does close, that way they can blame whoever has a majority on the board and claim that it was their lack of action that caused the hospital to close, not the fact they were actively working against the board from the beginning.

This is just an example of yet *another* broken promise, brought to you ny Fianna Fáil. Lets not forget right now there is, again, a water boil notice on for the county. Something else that FF promised they would make sure was corrected prior to the election. Now? They could care less.

FF should just call themselves the 'Dublin Party'. Everything they do goes to benefit the city of Dublin. They transfer our money there, our resources, our hospital services (while they have been working to close our hospital here, they have opened new and better services there, all with the help of our elected FF members here). The elected officials here now all have residences there - many have even moved their offices there.

Nothing like having to go to Dublin to visit your local Clare constiuency office.

The Clare TD's ALWAYS tow the party line, even if it means screwing the county. They always have (check their voting record), and always will. It's too bad that the people here continue to vote them in. Maybe when a few people die because of the lack of A&E and other emergency services (like the Ambulance services in Scarriff) people will wake up to the fact FF is bad for Clare.

bowsie casey

Does anyone have news of what was said at the AGM ?