Movement required on hospital

Here we go again. It"s almost the end of 2008, and even now, despite all the promises that have been made, and all the announcements that have been made, it appears there remains a questionmark over the completion of all the promised works at the hospital in Mullingar.Staff at the hospital are concerned: there is no sign of recruitment underway for staff to look after the additional beds, there is no word of funding for the promised Stage 2 of Phase B.As we write this, we are hours away from announcement of the budget, and with swinging cuts promised across all departments, the prospect of any sort of good news for the hospital in Mullingar looks remote.Fianna Fáíl gloried in announcing developments at Mullingar Hospital, and while indeed, builders have been on site there for some time now undertaking the works required to make the empty shell built so many years ago usable, the fact of the matter is that there is absolutely nothing happening in terms of the expansion of staff numbers, to ensure that the actual extension can be put into use.In August of last year, the Department of Health announced that two new accident and emergency consultants were to be appointed to the hospital in Mullingar, and one new consultant in radiology. Staff at Mullingar are still awaiting the arrival of those staff.There"s been a constant sense of frustration locally over the perceived lack of progress at Mullingar Hospital. Just last year, the hospital lost its breast cancer services, as did several other hospitals around the country. But there was some anger in Mullingar over that, as the service had been running well, and efficiently.Irrespective of the downturn in the economy, and irrespective of today"s budget, there must be progress made on Mullingar hospital, and the promises that have been made to the people of Mullingar must be kept.The promises must also be kept too to the staff, who have shown year after year that they operate an efficient hospital. While other hospitals may have patients on trolleys, it"s rarely the case in Mullingar. And time and time again, they have come tops in the efficiency stakes.Against a background of broken promises, they have kept this hospital running efficiently and well, as a story in the Westmeath Examiner"s 'Plus' this week shows.It was in 1997 that Phase 1 of the hospital - the 'empty shell' was oepned. That means that this county - and Longford, which it also serves, and the staff at its hospital, have shown a huge degree of patience.-If there was any real will to make this hospital a truly modern hospital with the staffing levels that requires, Mullingar needs more evidence of it than it has seen to date.