A senior Health Services Executive official has offered to resign from two key HSE committees over a decision to change the names of three Limerick hospitals, while ignoring the two other hospitals in the mid-western region at Ennis and Nenagh.
Programme manager for acute hospital services John O'Brien has written to chief executive Dr Stiofán de Búrca offering to stand aside as chairman of the Accreditation Steering Group and of the Leadership and Partnership Team.
In his letter Mr O'Brien said this was the second time in less than two years that there had been a change of name for the three hospitals.
The Mid-Western Regional Hospital Limerick, the Mid-Western Regional Maternity Hospital and the Mid-Western Regional Orthopaedic Hospital in Croom will now be known as University Hospital Limerick.
The decision is contrary to the former Mid-Western Health Board strategy, which last year changed the names of Ennis and Nenagh hospitals to reflect increased integration among the region's acute hospitals.