NURSES AT Killarney Community Hospital yesterday staged their fifth week of one-hour work stoppages, amid growing concern for the future of the hospital.
The 25 nurses told deputy leader of the Labour Party Joan Burton, who was warmly received on the picket line, that they would continue to fight for the future of “a vital facility” which they feared was to be turned into a long-term or a special needs home.
Plans were announced last month to amalgamate the community hospital with a nearby home for the elderly three times its size. The nurses say this was without any warning and without any clinical or nursing evaluation.
No new matron has been appointed to the community hospital on the retirement this month of the outgoing matron/director of nursing. “The only thing this hospital has in common with the 150-bed St Columbanus home for the elderly across the way is they are on two sides of the one road – the HSE are trying to say they are the same,” Sheila Dickson, president of the Irish Nurses’ Organisation, said. “This is the spin they are giving. There has been no engagement with us of a meaningful nature.”
Earlier Ms Dickson handed a letter to Taoiseach Brian Cowen when he arrived by helicopter to a nearby football stadium.
The nearest acute hospital is Tralee, a drive of 30 minutes, Ms Burton was told.