HUNDREDS OF people attended a public meeting in Co Laois last night, amid fears the emergency department at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise might be downgraded due to staff shortages.
Residents fear a lack of doctors may lead to a situation where the department would operate on an 8am to 8pm basis. They plan to hold a protest march in Portlaoise on Sunday.
A leaflet handed to those attending the meeting alleged the Health Service Executive “proposes to withdraw junior doctors at night time to cover the surgical services in the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore” where it was claimed the HSE had failed to recruit enough junior surgical doctors.
Facilitating the meeting on the request of members of staff at Portlaoise hospital, Peter O’Neill said “we ask that our elected representatives to meet our Minister for Health James Reilly and demand a reversal of this downgrading”.
The gathering at a GAA centre in Portlaoise was not a political meeting, Mr O’Neill insisted. He asked those present to elect a committee to organise a protest march on Sunday where they could “voice their anger and disgust”.
Portlaoise hospital staff member, Joe Hoolan, described the possible downgrade as “the biggest disaster our community has faced in many years”.”
Outside the meeting, Grainne Boland of the Save Portlaoise Action Group – one of a number of groups formed over the hospital issue – was collecting signatures for a petition. “We have thousands at the moment, five or six thousand and we still have thousands out there,” she said.
Local Labour Senator John Whelan said he will be raising the issue with the Minister for Health. He said the statistics show Portlaoise hospital has the busiest emergency department in the region and the 11th busiest in Ireland with 41,000 admissions a year.