UP TO 130 staff at Monaghan General Hospital will have to be redeployed when all acute services at the hospital are transferred to Cavan General Hospital in the new year, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has confirmed.
Senior HSE management briefed staff and unions at the Monaghan hospital on the planned changes yesterday.
Its understood staff were told there would be no redundancy package on offer but some staff may be offered early retirement.
Dermot Monaghan, general manager of Cavan and Monaghan hospitals, said options to be explored with staff would be redeployment to other hospitals in the region and in the community.
"We will protect jobs as best we can; the jobs of permanent staff or temporary staff who have acquired rights under relevant legislation will be protected."
Despite years of protests over the removal of services from the Monaghan hospital, the removal of further services is imminent.
The HSE said the changes were necessary to ensure patient safety.
The changes mean acute in-patient services will no longer be provided in Monaghan. However, the hospital will continue to provide day medical and day surgical services and step-down beds.
The treatment room at the hospital will be converted to a 12-hour, seven-day minor injuries unit.
Originally the changes were to come into effect on November 30th. However, the HSE said a new medical assessment unit in Cavan, an enhanced ambulance service and a 24/7 pre-hospital thrombolysis service would not be in place until late November or early December and these would have to be in place first. The changes were now unlikely to come into effect until February.
Peadar McMahon of the Monaghan Hospital Community Alliance said he was very concerned at the loss of further services from the hospital. "We cannot see that we are going to have a better service as they promised."
Tony Fitzpatrick, industrial relations officer with the Irish Nurses Organisation, said it was regrettable the acute medical services were closing. He said millions had been spent in the recent past refurbishing the two medical wards and now they were going to be closed or used for another purpose.