Ward closures likely as SHB goes €5m over budget

FACED with an estimated €5m budget over-run at the end of the year, fears were expressed at a Southern Health Board meeting, yesterday, of further ward closures in hospitals and cuts in services in Cork and Kerry.

Thirty beds are due to close in Tralee General Hospital for three months of the summer and board chief executive Sean Hurley said the board’s overall situation would be reviewed in June.

He said the Tralee beds were the only ones being closed, but they would see if any further action was required when they looked at the service plan for the board’s area, next month.