The disclosure of plans by the HSE to reduce the A&E at Roscommon County Hospital to an 8am to 8pm service is “totally unacceptable & will put local lives at risk” clams Denis Naughten

This plan is to be adopted by the HSE, with the approval of Government, by the end of the year, and implemented from 1st July next. The real fear is that the true agenda is to see the A&E being completely closed, at a later date.
While the current economic crisis will be used as an excuse, the reality is that Professor Brendan Drumm, of behalf of the HSE & the Government, made it crystal clear in the past that he wanted A&E and surgery transferred from Roscommon Hospital to Galway.

Presently the Galway hospitals are struggling to cope with demand and100’s of patients each week are now lying on trolleys in A & E. “You can’t even get parking, never mind a bed in the University Hospital” said Denis Naughten

“The hidden agenda is to have the downgrading plans in place in advance of a Fine Gael Government taking over the HSE & Department of Health because at the core of the Fine Gael reform strategy is the fact that local hospitals, like Roscommon, would not only retain existing medical services but also see new investment to improve the level of treatment provided”.

“The principle behind the Fine Gael plan is that the money follows the patient so the more patients treated in Roscommon Hospital, the more funding it will receive.”

“The full health reform plan is available at www.faircare.ie” concluded Denis Naughten