Hospital ward closes in bid to reduce €7m debt

A 31-BED ward at the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) in Cork is to close until the end of the year as the hospital struggles to claw back €4.6 million of a €7.2m accumulated deficit.

Management at the hospital estimates the cost-cutting measure will save in the region of €2 million. Cost-cutting measures outlined to line management at the hospital yesterday include reduced overtime, less use of temporary staff, deferred filling of vacancies, reduced out-of-hours payments and no use of locums. From a patient perspective, the hospital hopes to create cost savings by reducing length of stay.

The hospital has run up a deficit of €7.2m since 2003. Yesterday, management told staff that they needed to minimise expenditure and maximise income in an effort to break even by the end of 2008.

MUH said no vacancies which arise in the course of the year through “natural wastage” will be filled until staff affected by the ward closure have been absorbed. These include jobs vacated through retirement or staff leaving for posts elsewhere.

“We are doing this to live within budget,” it said.

The closure of the mixed medical and surgical ward was announced to staff yesterday. According to management, the closure will involve the redeployment of approximately 30 staff, including 23 nurses, rather than causing job losses.

Yesterday, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) condemned the ward closure as “another example of HSE (Health Service Executive) cutbacks”.

INO spokesman Michael Dineen said the union was annoyed management had not informed it of the closure prior to making the announcement to staff.

“We have been told the staff affected by the closure will be redeployed, but can that be said with certainty?” he asked.

Last night, Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen described the planned cutbacks as a “horror story” for sick and elderly people.

“The only victim will be the patient. We have already seen the hospital suffer because of failure to open the new A&E,” he said.

The €5m facility at the MUH has been lying idle since March 2007.

Last month, the chief executive of MUH, Pat Madden said a number of seasonal bed closures would take place but this has been superseded by the decision to close a ward until the end of the year.

A planned refurbishment of some wards, pending approval of funds from the HSE capital programme, is expected to go ahead, despite the cutbacks.

MUH faces significant challenges to operate within a budget that is almost €2m less than the €75.3m it received in 2007. This year, the sum has been reduced to €73.4m.

Meanwhile, thousands of people are expected to take to the streets of Sligo town tonight for a candlelight vigil in protest against the decision not to create a cancer centre of excellence in the north-west.

Among those to attend is the Bishop of Elphin, Dr Christy Jones, who yesterday said “the exclusion of the north-west from the provision of cancer services is very unfair and unjust”.