Palpable Anger at Save Navan Hospital Protest as Future Campaign to Secure A&E is Mapped Out– Tóibín
A large crowd gathered at the HSE Regional Offices in Kells, Co Meath in protest against the proposed closure of Navan A&E. The crowd was addressed by the Campaign Cathaoirleach Peadar Tóibín TD, Senior SIPTU Official John Regan, Sinn Féin TD Darren O’Rourke, Fianna Fail Seanadóir Shane Cassells and independent Cllr Gillian Toole.
Speaking after the a rally Peadar Tóibín TD stated;
”There was a palpable anger here today among protestors in county Meath. That such a large crowd gathered in the middle of a working day in Kells shows just how important this service is to us. Our march was preceded by a number of funeral hearses to underscore the life and death issue that faces the people of Meath. In the middle of a A&E capacity crisis the HSE is seeking to close a busy A&E in one of the fastest growing counties in the country. Surrounding hospitals are beyond capacity. Each one of them over the summer has released a statement asking patients not to present sue to overcrowding”.
“There are twelve hour waiting times in Drogheda. 24 hours waiting times in Tallaght. Staff at Connolly took to the streets to protest against overcrowding in their hospital. 23 hospital consultants in Drogheda wrote a letter to the government stating that closure would be a threat to the health of the people. Yet the HSE refuse to even research a cost benefit analysis into a functioning and safe A&E in Meath. They refuse to do a simple feasibility study to see what investment would be necessary to make our A&E safe. The HSE management are disconnected from the reality of the people. We have no confidence in them”.
“This campaign will continue until we have a cast iron guarantee of a properly funded A&E in Meath. We will commission a professionally researched feasibility study for a functioning and safe A&E. We will look at what legal recourse we have in terms of stopping the HSE. We will picket the head offices of the HSE if necessary and we are already in conversations with other hospital campaigns throughout the country to organise a national day of action seeking to fix the crisis overwhelming our broken Health Care System”.
CRÍOCH
