Recruitment ban ‘should be broken’ over A&E crisis

THE Government may have to lift its public sector recruitment ban, if the crisis facing emergency services in the Mid-West is to be averted, Labour junior minister Jan O’Sullivan has warned.

The party’s former spokesperson on health has said it was “inconceivable” that a region with a population of 361,000 people could be left without 24-hour emergency hospital cover.

The junior minister in the Department of Foreign Affairs was reacting to reports the emergency department at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital faces closure at night time from next month, due to a shortage of doctors.