A&E is our entitlement and we aim to keep it
We already have a hardworking, efficient and caring A&E, open 24 hours a day. We deserve no less than that.
The Hanly report threatens this.
Of course we are promised many great services instead of our A&E. To strive for a state-of-the-art hospital may seem admirable, but surely not at the expense of A&E.
Should we lose A&E we will have a nurse-run service from 8am to 8pm. Don't get ill outside these hours!
An A&E without a doctor or doctors is, in effect, a message from the Government: "Look, we got the votes, but we don't give a hoot about all of you in rural Ireland. Don't bother us, please."
But we will bother them. We should not have to beg for what we already have for what is our entitlement.
So to those making decisions for us under cover of Hanly, hear this: We won't stop. We won't beg, but at the end of the day we intend to continue to have an efficient doctors and nurses-run, 24-hour A&E at Ennis hospital.
Colette Dinan,
Idlewild,
Clareabbey,
Clarecastle,
Co Clare.
