The emergency department at Roscommon Hospital is to close from next Monday, it has been confirmed.
A press conference organised by HSE West today came just a week after it refused to confirm reports of the department’s impending closure.
The health authority said the emergency department would be replaced by an “urgent care centre” at the hospital, which will open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week.
It said there would be an “enhanced ambulance service, and a medical assessment unit. An out-of-hours ‘Westdoc’ GP service would be located on the hospital grounds from next Monday.
Acute emergency services would be provided from next Monday by surrounding acute hospitals, including Portiuncula, Ballinasloe and University Hospital Galway, Sligo General Hospital and Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar, Co Mayo, depending on “the location”.
HSE West regional director of operations John Hennessy said he could give a “cast iron assurance that there is no question of hospital closure” and “no question of job losses.
Trade union Siptu condemned the closure.
“The Minister for Health is obliged to explain to the public and those who work in the health service why this decision is now being enforced having promised just twelve months ago, and during the election campaign, that the full hospital service would be retained,” said Siptu acting health division organiser Paul Bell.
“It has now become the norm for the HSE and the Department of Health to say one thing about the retention of services and the protection of jobs and then do the opposite. This approach gives little confidence to the public and frontline providers who must now fear that the entire health service is under threat,” he said.