Our Lady's Hospital Navan - Ireland East Hospital Group
The HSE has announced plans to close the emergency department at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan - the only A and E facility in County Meath.
Instead it will set up a medical assessment unit which will operate 24 hours a day, and say it will result in more patients being transferred to Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda.
The Save Navan Hospital campaign group say closing the emergency department will only add to overcrowding at hospitals in Drogheda, Blanchardstown and Cavan.
Locals have voiced concerns at the A&E closing because the nearest will be in Drogheda and Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown which at 27 kilometres and 45 kilometres away from the town respectively.
Our Lady's Hospital, Navan serves a local population of 184,135 in Co. Meath and a regional population of 400,000 (Meath, Louth, Cavan, Monaghan) for Regional elective Orthopaedic and Rheumatology Services.
Local TD and Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said:
''The Minister for Health and the HSE is meeting with TDs on June 13th to discuss ‘reconfiguration’, ambulances are being redirected to other hospitals, the ICU was cleared of patients last week, new rosters are being devised and rumours are circulating that it could be closed as early as June 20th.
I cannot overstate how outrageously dangerous this is. Senior medics in the RCSI group have told me that they are shocked at the government plans. We have record waiting times in A&E throughout the country. The Minister for Health has admitted that this is "unacceptable". People are waiting 24 hours in some hospitals and 12 hours in our own areas to be seen in A&E. Pulling capacity out of the hospital now is madness.
Hundreds of houses are being built in Navan and other towns and Meath. The population is growing exponentially. You cannot get a GP for love nor money in many towns. People are traveling to Dublin and Kildare to see a GP. There has never been such chaos in our health system.''
