Top Issue 1-2024

11 April 2012

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Connolly Hospital ward to close on Friday the 13th

• Paul Donnelly

In November, more than 20 senior consultants at Connolly Hospital published a letter expressing their concerns for the future of the services there

THERE are continuing fears in Dublin West that more and more services in Connolly Hospital in Dublin West are to be cut despite assurances from Labour ministers Joan Burton and Leo Varadkar of Fine Gael.

The hospital has suffered cuts to its annual budget in the region of €20million – from a budget of €104million in 2009 to €84million in 2012. This has led to a serious deterioration in services for the wider community.

In November, more than 20 senior consultants at the hospital published a letter expressing their concerns for the future of the services in the hospital – at that time over €298,000 per month was cut from an A&E that serves a population of over 330,000 people in Dublin and Meath.

These cuts have also resulted in the closure of one acute ward and the closure of the outpatient clinic for long periods.

Only this week, Sinn Féin has received information from staff in the hospital that the Redwood ward (31 beds) was due to be closed on Tuesday 10 April but postponed due to the severe overcrowding in A&E. It has now been confirmed that the ward will definitely close this coming Friday, the 13th. This will undoubtedly lead to further hardships for the staff and patients as acute beds are stripped out continuously.

Myself and Sinn Féin Dublin North-West TD Dessie Ellis have been part of a community-based campaign to protect the services in Connolly Hospital and defend our local services. We fully support the consultants’ call for Connolly Hospital to become a major trauma centre for Dublin.  It is not only situated in one of the largest population centres in Dublin but is adjacent to one of the best network of roads in the country with the upgraded M50. This, along with the €100million-plus spent upgrading the hospital in recent years, makes it ideal for such a trauma centre.

We are determined to defend Connolly Hospital and we will not stand by while our hospital is downgraded and services built up by the excellent staff in the hospital are stripped away.

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