HSE rejects call for 24-hour A&E

THE Health Service Executive has turned down a call for a 24-hour accident and emergency & unit for a leading tourist town.

Independent Kerry councillor Brendan Cronin had proposed a unit be set up in Killarney, where the population can double, or treble in the tourist season.

The nearest A&E is at Kerry General Hospital in Tralee, 29km away.

“The population can reach 40,0000-plus on any given day during the summer but there is no immediate access to an A&E unit,” Mr Cronin said.

* “There’s an urgent need for immediate access to an A&E service in Killarney.”

But senior HSE official Gerry O’Dwyer pointed out Killarney was within easy reach of Tralee. He also said the clinical workload in a town with the population size of Killarney would not warrant a stand-alone A&E.

Work is progressing on a new e11 million A&E unit at Kerry General Hospital.

Meanwhile, cutbacks at Kerry General are set to be an issue in the local elections, with a number of candidates protesting against a decision to close the 29-bed Annagh ward at weekends.

Independent candidate in Dingle Bridget O’Connor claimed it was now an emergency situation.

“All politicians need to stand up and take notice and a countywide day of protest may be planned,” she said.

West Kerry pensioner Paddy O’Brien, who experienced the effects of the weekend ward closure, is running a single issue campaign against the cutbacks.

Mr O’Brien claimed it probably cost more to move all the patients out for the weekend than it would to have kept it open. The HSE said ward closures and other cutbacks were necessary to ensure the hospital stayed within budget.