North East Galway residents angry over A&E chaos

By SIOBHÃÂN HOLLIMAN MORE than 200 people are expected to attend a public meeting in Glinsk next week, to highlight the increasing fear and frustration regarding the chaos surrounding accident and emergency care for the region. Residents from the areas around Glenamaddy, Glinsk, Creggs, Williamstown and Ballymoe will attend the meeting along with members of the Roscommon Hospital Action Committee. [private] Organiser John Kelly from Keelogues, Glinsk says people have reached breaking point and many elderly people are petrified that they might need hospital attention because of long delays in UHG and Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe. Mr Kelly says that since the closure of the Emergency Department at Roscommon Hospital, people are afraid of becoming sick or having a medical emergency. 'The big problem for the residents in this part of the county is the rural roads. It could take up to two hours for us to get to the hospital in Galway whereas we could get to Roscommon in 15 minutes,' he told The Tuam Herald. He says there is confusion among many people as to what services are actually available in Roscommon Hospital any more. 'There has been no improvement to health services for us. We are genuinely concerned that they will close Roscommon completely and there are also grave concerns about the future of the A&E in Ballinasloe,' he said. All local TDs and senators have been asked to attend the meeting in the Glencastle Lounge, Glinsk at 8.30 pm on Monday night. He accepts that Roscommon's A&E closure won't be reversed but he stressed that people are adamant that an urgent resolution must be found to ease overcrowding in Galway and Ballinasloe. 'We want the public representatives to tell us straight where they stand on this. The people from North East Galway have been very quiet up to now. I don't expect a turnaround but I believe in pressure and if we can put enough pressure on them, they will have to commit to something,' remarked the angry farmer. He said it was ridiculous that elderly people were frightened of going to hospital before they even knew what was wrong with them because they didn't want to be left on a trolley. The meeting comes when Galway's acute hospital's poor performance has again been highlighted by the HSE's own measuring guide, the HealthStat assessment. The number of patients waiting on trolleys in A&E before they are admitted to the hospital is over 30 on a regular basis and a few weeks ago, it reached 60. There are currently 47 beds closed between UHG and Merlin Park Hospital and while there are no plans to close further beds before the end of the year, pressure on services and resources is taking a huge toll on the hospital. Elective surgery waiting times are rising and it is reflected in the alarming waiting list for in-patient procedures at UHG. The waiting time for an in-patient treatment has doubled in just two years, from 11 months to nearly two years. The number of people waiting on this list is also startling, with an additional 3,200 patients in two years. In September 2009 there were 4,567 patients on the in-patient waiting list at UHG, this September the number stood at 7,816. While measures are being taken to try and reduce overcrowding at UHG's Emergency Department, the HSE West and its hospitals are under pressure to ensure they come in on budget over the next few weeks. This isn't looking likely as the overspend for UHG and Merlin Park Hospital up to last week was close to €12 million. [/private]