EMERGENCY TREATMENT of patients at Nenagh General Hospital is to end this month, the Health Service Executive has said.
Patients from the area will now be assessed and treated at the emergency department of the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.
From September 17th, a local injuries unit will operate in Nenagh between 8am and 8pm. This will deal with adults and children over five years of age with cases such as broken bones, soft tissue injuries and wounds.
HSE West said the change was in line with the National Emergency Medicine Programme, which envisaged the centralisation of emergency care for the sickest patients in the region to Limerick. Henceforth 999 calls in the region will go straight to Limerick.
Nenagh will continue to admit GP-referred medical patients with an accompanying letter with less critical conditions for assessment and treatment in the assessment unit. It will also handle follow-on care for patients returning from Limerick.
The local emergency centre had been treating 8,000 cases a year.
Staff, patient groups, GPs and public representatives are being briefed on the development.
The downgrading of Nenagh General Hospital’s 24-hour emergency department to a 12-hour local emergency centre in April 2009 sparked protests in the area.
Some 4,000 people attended a rally in opposition to the downgrading of services at the Co Tipperary hospital.
In January 2010, nurses at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick held a work-to-rule protest, claiming the hospital was failing to cope with the overflow of patients following the closure of emergency departments in Nenagh and Ennis and the relocation of in-patient surgery, trauma and cancer care to Limerick.
In late 2010, former minister for health Mary Harney also had her car pelted with eggs and cheese as she arrived at the hospital where about 30 protesters were demonstrating against the downgrading of services.
