Local readers for whom the fate of Roscommon A&E eleven years ago this July is still a harrowing memory may be interested to read the following from Tuesday’s Regional Health Forum West meeting in Merlin Park University Hospital, Galway.
At the meeting Mayo county councillor Michael Kilcoyne asked for an update on plans for a new A&E Unit at Mayo University Hospital in Castlebar.
He was told: “A full design team has been appointed to progress the Emergency Department and Medical Assessment Unit project at Mayo University Hospital. The design team are familiarising themselves with the site and the project. It is anticipated that the preliminary outline design will be available before the end of Quarter 2 2022. A planning permission application is anticipated in due course once the design process has been sufficiently advanced. This project is included in the HSE Capital Plan and sufficient funding is available in 2022 to meet the anticipated cash flow requirements arising”.
It’s coming up to eleven years since Roscommon A&E was so abruptly, ruthlessly and controversially closed (Yes, HIQA had inspected it and raised concerns, but if the political will was there to keep it open, it would have been kept open).
Eleven years on from the Roscommon debacle, Castlebar’s A&E isn’t just (rightly) being retained, it’s being enhanced.
Make no mistake about it…whether you’re talking about the development of Mayo’s A&E, or the demise of Roscommon’s, political will was a factor in both instances.
