Work to start on new Kerry A&E

WORK is expected to start on a new Accident and Emergency unit at Kerry General Hospital, Tralee, later this year.

Doctors and politicians in the county have been campaigning for several years for the unit, claiming the present unit lacks facilities and staff and is incapable of meeting demands.

Kerry GPs staged a protest at the hospital, claiming that smaller A&E units in other parts of the country had more consultants and registrars and twice the number of junior doctors.

The new unit will have a resuscitation room, additional treatment and observation facilities, improved waiting areas and special facilities for children.

A detailed design of the unit will be completed early in the year, according to the Health Service Executive (HSE). Planning permission will then be applied for and tenders sought for the works in mid-2007.

Also, the HSE said every effort is being made by the hospital to collect more than €500,000 due in outstanding fees from patients who used the unit.

The HSE said A&E staff requested payment from patients at the time of treatment where possible. Where this was not possible, a bill for payment was subsequently issued.

When fees were not paid, an external agency had to be retained to recover the money, putting further expense on the hospital, the HSE added.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Irish College of General Practitioners, Dr Eamon Shanahan, called for the appointment of a full-time cardiologist at Kerry General Hospital.

He said statistics showed the rate of deaths from heart disease in Kerry was among the highest in Europe. Given the increasing number of deaths from heart disease, Dr Shanahan said the appointment of a cardiologist and support team at the hospital should be treated as a matter of urgency.