This article is from page 3 of the 2006-05-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
THE mayor of Shannon has warned of a back-up in acute services in the county if the refurbishment work at St Joseph’s Hospital, Ennis is not planned properly.
Councillor Tony Mulcahy has said that he fears no new referrals will be made to the geriatric hospital and nursing home during the face-lift.
While welcoming the much-needed work in the Ennis hospital, he said he fears that proposals to close one unit at a time in the hospital and relocate the patients may diminish the number of beds available to new patients. This in turn will have a knock-on effect for the acute services, as patients will not be able to be moved from mainstream hospital to the specialist units.
The Shannon mayor has suggested that a portocabin be put in place as a temporary relief measure at the 250bed hospital.
“We need to consider how we are going to accommodate these people and where,” said the Fine Gael councillor. “We don’t want to limit the bed numbers further.”
A spokesperson for the HSE Mid West told The Clare People that the Health Service Executive would be maintaining the existing public bed complement during the upgrading and renovations at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
“There will be significant work undertaken at St. Joseph’s Hospital in the current year with the commencement of the complete upgrading of the heating system and water system within the hospital,” she said.
In addition all windows in the hospital will be replaced and each ward will be refurbished and upgraded as part of this programme.
Meanwhile expectant mothers from Ennis and surrounding areas will have to find a new location for their antenatal classes, which took place in a room in St Joseph’s Hospital.
They have until Friday week to find a new location for the classes.
“We were officially informed on April 11 that the Conference Room in St Joseph’s Hospital would no longer be available to us for antenatal classes as of May 12,” a HSE spokesperson said.
“We are currently trying to source a suitable alternative venue for the classes in the Ennis area. Every effort will be made to bring the situation to a satisfactory conclusion for all concerned.”
There is no maternity hospital in Clare, with mothers travelling to Galway and Limerick to have their babies. Home births are also difficult to secure in the county with one private midwife in the west of the county providing the service.