HEALTH activists have claimed the closure of a number
of inpatient beds at Tallaght Hospital will increase waiting lists for surgery
and greatly exacerbate overcrowding at the accident and emergency department.
The Tallaght Hospital Action Group (THAG) warned that
the closure of 62 beds at the hospital, including a 31-bed ward, would have a
detrimental effect on the level of patient care at the facility.
The HSE cut funding to the hospital this year and
imposed fines of e1.7 million due to overcrowding there last year.
Concerns have also been raised regarding a decision by
the HSE not to allow the transfer of patients waiting to be discharged from the
hospital to St Brigid’s Nursing Home in Crooksling, Brittas.
Triona Murphy, the chairperson of THAG, said they had
grave concerns regarding the bed closures.
“This has to have an impact and it will have an
impact,
? she said.
“Also, the hospital is fined if they don’t admit patients
from A&E within a certain time and fined if waiting lists are too long.
?
Deputy Seán Crowe (SF) described the closure of the
beds, which he claimed had been done without any consultation, as a
“devastating blow
?.
“Closing beds in this way seriously undermines both
the quality and quantity of health care available to the general population in
this region,
? he said.
“It certainly does not reduce the demand for care
required by people who are sick.
?
The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) is
expected to publish the findings of a statutory inquiry into the safety and
governance at the hospital’s A&E department after overcrowding reached
unprecedented levels last year.
Tracy Cooper, chief executive of HIQA, told the
Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children last week that the report
would have significant implications for the Irish hospital system.
Meanwhile, Gerry O’Neill, chairperson of the Save
Crooksling Hospital Action Group, said campaigners were dismayed to hear that
the HSE will no longer transfer patients who had been discharged from Tallaght
Hospital to the nursing home.
The HSE announced in early October that it had decided
to close the nursing home on a phased basis, as it believed that the facility
would not meet HIQA standards.
It intended to transfer the majority of the 90 or so
patients at the nursing home to the newly built Hollybrook Community Nursing
Unit currently lying empty in Inchicore.
According to Mr O’Neill, activists opposing the
proposed closure of the nursing home met Health Minister James Reilly before
Christmas. He claimed the minister gave campaigners three months to devise a
practical plan that would enable the facility to remain open.
“However, it turns out the HSE is ploughing on with
their plan despite what the minister says,
? Mr O’Neill stated.
A spokesperson at Tallaght Hospital said that two
wards at the hospital are occupied on an ongoing basis by patients who are
awaiting placement in nursing homes.
“This equates to 50 patients,
? the spokesperson said.
“The hospital’s strategy is focusing on the placement of these long-term
patients in the community where they will receive more appropriate care.
?
A spokesperson for the HSE said that since it made its
initial decision to close St Brigid’s it did not consider it appropriate to
make further admissions to a unit that was planning to transfer patients.
“Neither is it appropriate at this time to recommence
admissions until such time as a decision is made on the future of the unit,
?
the spokesperson added.
A spokesperson at the Department of Health said the
minister had committed to ensuring that the HSE would engage in a comprehensive
consultation process before a decision would be taken to close any community
nursing unit.
“This commitment will be honoured in relation to St
Brigid’s,
? the spokesperson said.