LRC for talks with health board and unions on Galway hospital dispute

The Labour Relations Commission is to open talks in Galway tomorrow on the dispute over threatened hospital ward and theatre closures in the city. Some 45 temporary nurses have also been threatened with dismissal.

The commission's invitation has been accepted by the Western Health Board, the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) and SIPTU, but the SIPTU regional representative, Mr Michael Kilcoyne, is "not hopeful of a favourable outcome". The LRC could only deal with the industrial issue of staffing at University College Hospital, Galway (UCHG), he said.

Last week's offer by Mr Jack McCann, a consultant plastic surgeon at UCHG, to work for half his salary until Christmas or to make a once-off donation or loan to the Western Health Board has prompted a wave of public support to avert the ward and theatre closures. Mr McCann, who is chairman of the Community Health Response Group attached to the hospital, said that the main issue - patient care - was being overlooked. The group intended to open its bank account for donations and would attempt to raise the necessary funding within the next week. The initiative has been supported by Galway Bay FM local radio.

"We are talking about a sum of £200,000, and surely we can come up with that in the community," Mr McCann said. "If we can raise it, 400 more patients will receive treatment by the end of the year and we won't lose valuable and highly-skilled nursing staff to Dublin hospitals."

The Western Health Board has already said that the closure of two wards and one theatre and the laying off of 45 nurses is due to a budget overrun which will be well in excess of £1 million by the end of the year. Under the Health Amendment Act, the board must keep within its annual allocation.

Mr McCann's initiative received the endorsement of the Hospital Community Alliance, which represents Galway residents. Its chairman, Mr Gerry Corbett, pledged the first £200 to the fund.