Anger as Hospital ward closed

Many members of the public in Mid and South Roscommon may be facing inconvenience in the coming weeks with the news that a 28-bed ward at Portiuncula is to be closed as a direct result of the HSE recruitment ban.    On Wednesday tThe Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) called on the Health Service Executive to abandon its recruitment ban after it was announced that a 28-bed ward at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe will close next Sunday – and will not re-open until the end of January.            According to the INO, the closure will have a negative knock-on effect at the Hospital -leading to even longer waiting times especially at A&E at the busiest time of the year.   It was announced earlier this week that St. Clare’s Ward, a 28-bed female/gynaecology ward, is to close from Sunday, December 23rd, 2007 until the end of January 2008. This closure is as a direct result of the embargo, by the HSE at national level, on recruitment and replacement of frontline staff.    The 22 or so nurses who work in St. Clare’s will be re-located to other wards in the hospital.   Speaking to the Roscommon People yesterday (Wednesday) Ms. Noreen Muldoon, INO Industrial Relations Officer in the Western region says that the decision is a disaster for services at the hospital.   Ms. Muldoon said: ‘Any woman who is coming in for an elective gynaecological operation in the New Year will be affected. That’s the immediate effect but if there is 28 less beds available in the hospital it will affect other areas like A and E which is facing into its busiest time of the year.’     Noreen Muldoon says that staff at the hospital are very unhappy at the closure.  ‘The real people to suffer, in this situation, are the patients and the INO are calling upon the HSE to lift this current embargo on frontline staff, including our INO nursing members, to enable them to care for the population of Ballinasloe and South Co.  Roscommon and the environs.’    When contacted  by the People on Wednesday the HSE West issued the following statement:       ‘Portiuncula Hospital has confirmed a temporary closure of a surgical ward. The temporary closure includes the two-week period over Christmas when activity is significantly reduced as people generally do not want to be in hospital over the festive period.    ‘It is intended to re-open this ward again in January.The HSE is working with Portiuncula hospital to ensure the quickest resolution possible to the temporary closure.   Portiuncula Hospital has received approval to recruit an additional six nursing staff to increase the number of nurses within the hospital.’