Despite promises, Tuam still waiting for hospital

Nine months after an election during which north Galway voters were promised their own community hospital, they are still waiting. The grass is growing around the Grove Hospital in Tuam while patients are lying on trolleys in the overcrowded casualty unit of University College Hospital, Galway.

For Dr Enda Harhen, a GP in Tuam, it is a frustrating situation. "Patients who could have been treated in their own community are forced into Galway, adding pressure to the system there and taking up specialty beds, while a plan submitted by the Western Health Board for a Tuam health campus sits in the Department in Health." The board paid over €4 million for the Grove when the Bon Secours decided to pull out of the area. While there was some reservation within the board about the purchase, the hospital's future had become a political issue. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael representatives were facing into an election at the time. A plan was submitted to the Department for the hospital's development.

As it turned out, neither party benefited from the purchase. Tuam architect and councillor Mr Paddy McHugh, who had been turned down for a Fianna Fáil nomination, was elected as an Independent TD last year. He is critical of the delay in moving on the development: "Everyone knows that finances are tight, but the appointment of an initial design team for the campus would cost a relatively small amount and would be seen as a gesture of goodwill on the part of the Minister for Health. There is a feeling that purse strings will not be loosened till we come close to the next election. It is a very cynical way to run a country."