Government moves threatens viability of Hospital

As many as 70 nurses at the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar have been told that their contracts are not to be renewed, due to the financial crisis.Under new Government measures, nursing contracts will not be renewed, staff on sick and maternity leave will not be replaced and recruitment will cease for the majority of staff.With exceptional recruitment cases requiring approval from the Minister for Finance.It will be impossible to continue with any 'semblance of a functioning service' in the Midlands Regional Hospital at Mullingar if the recruitment cutbacks go ahead, Derek Reilly of the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) told the Westmeath Examiner.The new measures are, staff at the hospital believe, likely to result in the closure of wards and could lead to staffing reductions affecting upwards of 70 nurses, Mr. Reilly said.The announcement comes as a series blow to nursing staff, who only earlier this year had written to HSE management expressing concern about staffing levels at Mullingar"s Accident and Emergency unit.Further correspondence was also sent by staff to the HSE regarding the need for more midwives at the hospital, another area hit by the recruitment cutbacks, according Mr. Reilly.If the Government adheres to the measures, 'we can expect conditions in A & E to get worse and staffing levels throughout all areas of the hospital will drop dramatically resulting in the closure of wards and services,' claimed Mr. Reilly.Likening the HSE"s announcement to a 'sick April Fools joke', Fine Gael Deputy James Bannon described the issue as 'a matter of life and death'.Speaking in the Dail last week, Deputy Bannon said: 'Correspondence sent to personnel at the hospital yesterday, Wednesday, 01 April, stated that all temporary contracts will be withdrawn on the 27th of this month and no replacements will be provided for those on maternity or sick leave.'Directing his comments to the Minister of Health, Deputy Bannon said: 'Think twice Minister before you put more lives on the line and destroy what is one of the highest performing hospitals in the country, as the recent Healthstat report revealed.''I expect assurances from the Minister that the correspondence received yesterday by all staff at Longford/Westmeath Regional Hospital was just another administrative error or, a sick "April Fools" joke.'However, there"s little laughter among front line staff at the hospital. INO"s Derek Reilly said staffing levels are already low at the hospital, 'morale in the hospital is at an all time low and now many are also threatened with losing their jobs,' he commented.There are a few exceptions to the current recruitment freeze. These exceptions include the hiring of consultants, therapists and emergency medical technicians.When quizzed about the cutbacks on Monday, a HSE Spokesperson said: 'Mullingar Hospital similar to every other health care provider in the country has a budget to provide services, and is required to remain within that budget. Based on its performance for the first two months of this year, the HSE is confident that Mullingar Hospital will remain within its budget and fulfil its service plan targets for 2009.'INO members are meeting with local HSE management on Wednesday, April 8 to discuss the matter. If talks do not achieve some form of compromise, the recruitment measures will remain in place until the end of 2010.