TALKS BETWEEN health service unions and the Health Service Executive on its plans to end round-the-clock A&E services at Ennis and Nenagh hospitals from Monday next broke down last evening.
The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and trade union Siptu said afterwards they were concerned sufficient preparations for the changes had not yet been made.
Mary Fogarty, industrial relations officer with the INO, said some of the protocols on how patients would be dealt with once the changes came into effect were still in draft form.
And she said there was no agreed protocol in relation to the self-referral of emergency obstetric cases to either Ennis or Nenagh after 8pm and how they were to be managed locally by hospital staff.
In a joint statement after the talks in Limerick under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) collapsed, the unions said the HSE had failed to allow for time to comprehensively address the patient safety issues and staffing levels raised.
All reasonable requests from the unions to the HSE under the auspices of the LRC to allow time for same have been rejected,” the statement said.
A meeting of all union members will take place tonight in Limerick to discuss alternative options available to them.
Under the changes planned by the HSE, the A&E units in Ennis and Nenagh will cease to provide 24-hour services from April 6th.
Instead they will be open from 8am to 8pm and emergencies outside those hours will be dealt with at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.
“Agreement has been reached with the ambulance service that all trauma, paediatric and obstetric emergencies will go directly to the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick including the Regional Maternity Unit,” the HSE said.
It added that ambulance services for both North Tipperary and Clare have been enhanced to cope with the changes which they say will improve patient safety.
Meanwhile staff in Ennis and Nenagh will be seeking compensation for the loss of night shift work when the changes come into effect. “All staff that have a loss of premium earnings would be looking for a formula for loss of earnings,” Ms Fogarty confirmed.