COMMITMENTS made about the future of Roscommon County Hospital have a “striking similarity” to undelivered promises made in the northeast, according to campaigners.
The Co Monaghan Community Alliance has warned people in Roscommon “not to be fooled”, based on its experiences.
Alliance spokesman Peader McMahon said recent statements on Roscommon, such as a public commitment to its future by local TD Frank Feighan, used “very similar language” to that used in the Monaghan situation two years ago.
Monaghan General Hospital’s emergency department was closed as part of a reduction in services in July 2009, although €17 million had been invested in its development as an acute hospital, Mr McMahon said.
The Fine Gael Roscommon-South Leitrim TD’s commitment to a “state-of-the-art diagnostic centre for the western region” rings hollow when this was the future outlined for Monaghan in the northeast, according to Mr McMahon.
HSE West said last week that expanded day services at Roscommon County Hospital would serve a wider catchment and help to reduce waiting lists in the region.
A new endoscopy unit and specialities in maxillo-facial surgery, rheumatology and dermatology are to be introduced, HSE West regional director of operations, John Hennessy, said.
Mr Hennessy said services in ear, nose and throat, urology, gynaecology, orthopaedics and palliative care and rehabilitation were to be expanded.
The aim of this strategy for Roscommon was to eliminate a “current mismatch between trying to treat both trauma and elective cases”, which was “pushing up waiting lists” in the HSE West region, he said.
But Mr McMahon said that people in Monaghan were still waiting for promised development.
“We are now being told that our minor injuries unit, open from 9am to 9pm, seven days a week, will be cut back to 9am to 5pm, five days a week,” he said.
“Monaghan General’s CT scanner works for about two to three hours per week and clinics have been reduced in number.
“By stealth, our services are being eroded to reach an unsustainable level, and this will give the Health Information and Quality Authority, the HSE, the Department of Health and the Minister the excuse to recommend complete closure.
“Mr Feighan says that the scheduling of routine or minor operations at Roscommon hospital, which are normally earmarked for University Hospital Galway, will enhance the hospital,” Mr McMahon said.
“We were told that Monaghan would carry out minor surgical operations that would normally be done in Cavan or Drogheda.
“It has not happened, and the visiting consultant surgeons are not that happy about having to travel to Monaghan to do minor work when roads are slippery and foggy,” he said.
Turning Roscommon into a “diagnostic” centre does not meet the needs of the population, Mr McMahon claimed, jobs will not be protected, and Monaghan’s experience will be the “template” for other small and medium-sized hospitals.
Only with emergency services will Roscommon County Hospital have a “secure future”, he added.
HSE West says it is committed to development at Roscommon, and existing jobs are secure.
