Plan to close intensive care unit put on hold

THE proposed closure of an intensive care unit (ICU) at Nenagh General Hospital has been put on hold.

It followed the appointment of Dr James Reilly as Minister for Health who ordered there be no further withdrawal of services from local hospitals until he has reviewed proposed changes.

While he could not say how long this review will take, the minister said the planned changes would be suspended until he had the chance to look at the implications of each case.

The ministerial order has been welcomed by the Nenagh Hospital Action Group.

The group’s secretary, Noreen Kennedy, said Mr Reilly’s order effectively put a planned reconfiguration process — involving Nenagh, Ennis and Limerick hospitals — on hold.

However, while welcoming the order, she said the group remains “in the dark” as to how long the review will take and what the minister’s decision will be.

“We welcome that it’s on hold at least but we have sought clarification on what this means in the long-term,” Ms Kennedy said.

Mr Reilly’s instruction to halt the planned withdrawal of local hospital services was issued through the secretary general of the department, Michael Scanlan and the HSE.

The minister had said it may turn out some of the proposed changes are positive but he wanted time to assess them first.

In January last, the local action group had warned of a likely closure and claimed staff at the hospital had originally been informed the ICU was to close in the first week of February. However, the HSE postponed the decision until the late spring.

There are currently five intensive and coronary care beds at Nenagh hospital and six at Ennis.

The HSE has confirmed plans to centralise the Nenagh and Ennis ICUs at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Dooradoyle, Limerick, as part of the reconfiguration of health services in the mid-west.

Construction is currently under way on a new critical care unit at Dooradoyle, which will contain a 12-bed ICU, 14-bed high dependency unit and 16-bed coronary care unit, among other features.

However the multi-million euro development is not expected to be complete until the end of this year at the earliest.