*Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar visiting UHL. Photograph: Brian Arthur
UPGRADING Ennis and Nenagh to model three hospitals is “definitely not the plan” within Government, an Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (FG) has said.
Whilst in Limerick on Friday to turn the sod on the new 250 bed Bon Secours Hospital, the Taoiseach poured cold water on the reopening of accident and emergency departments in Ennis and Nenagh but gave a more a lukewarm response to a campaign group from the region in a meeting later that day.
Speaking in University Hospital Limerick (UHL), Varadkar outlined that more patients could be seen at Ennis and Nenagh but felt the reopening of emergency departments was not the way forward.
He stated, “We have the opportunity to develop a medical centre at Barringtons and our plans to essentially upgrade Nenagh and Ennis not to full service emergency departments, medicine has moved on in that regard but I do think more can be done, we now have sick but stable patients being taken there by ambulance, I think it’s possible to develop the services there and change those protocols over time so that more patients that currently come here to the specialist centre in Limerick will be treated in Nenagh and Ennis”.
When asked about the reopening of the A&Es in both Ennis and Nenagh, the Taoiseach replied, “That’s definitely not the plan. When I talk to doctors, the emergency doctors are the ones we take our advice from when it comes to these matters, what they say to me is we have too many emergency departments not too few, an emergency department in Ireland hasn’t been closed in ten years, that happened for a reason because of the difficult experience that happened in Drogheda, Limerick and other places where emergency departments were downgraded, (it’s a) much better situation now in Drogheda, we’re not there by any means yet in Limerick.
“The bottom line is twenty years ago when I would have been studying medicine as a doctor, there wasn’t an awful lot you could do if they had a heart attack or a stroke you took them to the hospital and you kept them comfortable, if they experienced major trauma there is a good chance they would probably die, we can now stop a heart attack in its tracks, save heart muscle and discharge people in three or four days, we can stop a stroke happening and people who have been paralysed survive but you can’t do that in every hospital or every county, that is why we need special centres like the emergency department here in Limerick, it is the right model, the problem is the capacity isn’t adequate and there are patients who could be seen in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s that are coming here, that is why I foresee those hospitals being upgraded, I’d like to see them being developed in Ennis and Nenagh as urgent care centres but a full service emergency department where every disease can be treated and every emergency gets the best care possible is impossible, the trend in terms of medicine and healthcare in Ireland is in the other direction”.
During a meeting with the Mid-West Hospital Campaign at the South Court Hotel, the Taoiseach was questioned on his remarks at the press briefing where he appeared to rule out the reopening by Chairperson Noeleen Moran from Ballyvaughan.
The Clare Echo understands that the Taoiseach informed the group that he learned since COVID-19 never to rule out anything and that he accepted hospitals at Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s need upgrading but the extent of which has yet to be examined.
Offering some clarity, a spokesperson for the Taoiseach later stated, “as the Taoiseach had indicated, nothing is off the table until discussions have taken place with the incoming chief executive of the HSE and the Minister for Health”.
