Consultants threaten to resign over transfer of surgical facilities

John Murphy

The transfer was to have been completed by March 1 but it has emerged that it will be at least June before the surgical units open in Clonmel.

The Health Service Executive say the opening date had to be delayed to allow industrial relations negotiations to proceed, but consultants and other staff at the hospital are angry at the situation. Consultant physician Dr Paul O’Regan said the consultants are seriously upset about the situation, and resignation may well be something they will have to consider because they can no longer work for their patients under existing dangerous conditions.

Dr O’Regan said news of a further three-month delay in the transfer of the surgical facilities to Clonmel has dismayed the entire hospital staff and added that there is no guarantee the transfer will be completed in three months time.

The new surgical units and ancillary facilities have been lying idle at the Clonmel hospital since they were built three years ago. An additional 58 posts will be created and staff recruitment is underway.

The decision has also delayed the new 20-bed unit in Cashel hospital for elderly and mentally infirm patients, together with a 12 bed hostel for mental health purposes, 12 independent living units and respite care for people with physical disabilities, and a day care centre for people with physical disabilities. These facilities will only come on stream when the transfer of the surgical facilities to Clonmel has taken place.

The cost of providing these additional facilities at Cashel hospital is 6 million and a spokesperson for the Health Service Executive has confirmed that an application for funding to staff the new services in Cashel has been made to the Department of Health.

Meanwhile, the consultants are calling on patients, their families, and representative groups to exert pressure on their politicians to speed up the completion of the planned improvements at both hospitals.