As Health Minister Mary Harney visits Portiuncula hospital, Ballinasloe today [Friday], IMPACT trade union is calling on the Minister to guarantee that local services and jobs will not be transferred from Roscommon and Portiuncula hospitals as part of HSE plans to restructure health services in the region.
Ms Harney is visiting Portiuncula hospital in Ballinasloe today to open the new A&E and baby unit, and IMPACT representatives, with the support of local councillors, will meet the Minister afterwards to put their case to her.
IMPACT says HSE West is attempting to downgrade Portiuncula and Roscommon hospitals by instructing them to report directly to the general manager of University Hospital Galway, rather than to their own managers.
The union says the decision to expand the scope of the Galway general manager - to incorporate both Portiuncula and Roscommon hospitals - is the start of a re-structuring of hospitals in the region, which will see a downgrading of the skills mix and services available.
“IMPACT is determined to stand shoulder to shoulder with the community to protect jobs and services in Ballinasloe. The HSE West plans will be bad news for local health services in the area, and they will also lead to job cuts in a community badly hit by unemployment. The so-called Celtic Tiger never called to Ballinasloe and this community can’t afford to lose more jobs in the recession,” said IMPACT official Padraig Mulligan yesterday.
“Both the community and our members are closely watching the response of Government TDs to this attack on the last big employer in the town,” he said.
Deputy Denis Naughten raised the matter in the Dail on Wednesday, saying, “The HSE has continuously misrepresented its intentions regarding Roscommon and Portiuncula hospitals, and there is no doubt that if the executive gets away with this change, further, more significant transfers of medical capabilities will take place.”
