The new wards that never opened

New hospital wards are being built across the country, only to stay idle because of a lack of funding to staff them, writes Paul O'Brien.

RARELY enough for an accident and emergency department, it is free of chaos: no overcrowding in the hallways, no patients sleeping on trolleys, no angry complaints from people waiting hours to be seen. But there is a good reason why this department is so peaceful: it has never been used.

Beds are wrapped in cellophane. Dust gathers in corners. The A&E is just one of several units in a €96 million, five-storey wing of the James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown, Dublin, which are currently lying idle.