15 November 2001 Edition
Fight to save Erne embalming services
Sinn Féin Fermanagh South Tyrone representatives Michelle Gildernew MP, Assembly member Gerry McHugh and Cllr Paddy Gilgunn are seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister for Health Bairbre de Brún to discuss the withdrawal of embalming services from the Erne Hospital planned for 1 December.
"If the embalming service is withdraw from the Erne Hospital there will be no viable alternatives and it raises serious health and safety concerns if this procedure cannot be performed within a controlled environment," said Gildernew after a meeting with local undertakers.
"It seems that the difficulty in maintaining services is mainly due to the unwillingness of the pathology service at the Altnagelvin Hospital to oversee the embalming service at the Erne.
"While there is a duty for this service to be overseen by Altnagelvin, staff at the Erne are qualified to carry out the necessary procedures and do not need to be supervised on a full time basis. We are seeking the pooling of resources on an All Ireland basis to ensure that this service is retained. If there is no immediate resolution to this issue, we will be calling for the withdrawal of services to be postponed."
Cllr Gilgunn added: "At present there are difficulties surrounding post mortems at weekends and bank holidays and problems recruiting pathologists. If this situation is not addressed we will have a situation where bodies will not released for up to a week but if one pathologist should take sick leave this will no longer be a weekend or bank holiday problem but a week long one."
"If the embalming service is withdraw from the Erne Hospital there will be no viable alternatives and it raises serious health and safety concerns if this procedure cannot be performed within a controlled environment," said Gildernew after a meeting with local undertakers.
"It seems that the difficulty in maintaining services is mainly due to the unwillingness of the pathology service at the Altnagelvin Hospital to oversee the embalming service at the Erne.
"While there is a duty for this service to be overseen by Altnagelvin, staff at the Erne are qualified to carry out the necessary procedures and do not need to be supervised on a full time basis. We are seeking the pooling of resources on an All Ireland basis to ensure that this service is retained. If there is no immediate resolution to this issue, we will be calling for the withdrawal of services to be postponed."
Cllr Gilgunn added: "At present there are difficulties surrounding post mortems at weekends and bank holidays and problems recruiting pathologists. If this situation is not addressed we will have a situation where bodies will not released for up to a week but if one pathologist should take sick leave this will no longer be a weekend or bank holiday problem but a week long one."