Elderly being kept at the ‘bottom of the priority pile’

THE elderly are being kept firmly in their place at the “bottom of the priority pile”, an 84-year-old Tralee woman who has been campaigning for a community hospital for eight years claimed yesterday.

Ellen Rowan and other senior citizens have had meetings with three health ministers since 1999, but there’s still no sign of progress on the proposed 50-bed community hospital, due to be built in the grounds of Kerry General Hospital, Tralee.

The chairperson of Tralee Senior Citizens’ Campaign said 20 of her fellow campaigners had died in the past eight years, while many others were in various homes around Kerry.