THE WEST coast’s sole dedicated arthritis treatment unit is to be closed as part of budgetary cutbacks by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
Consultants, medical staff and local politicians have expressed anger at the move to shut down the 34-bed rheumatology and medical unit at Merlin Park Hospital from the end of the month.
The unit, which was established over the last 20 years, treats over 6,000 people annually both in the hospital and through out-patient services. It serves a catchment of up to half a million on the western seaboard. Consultant rheumatologist Dr Robert Coughlan has expressed concern at the closure and effective break-up of a specialist medical team, and has said that a cost-saving plan had already been presented by his staff to the HSE. “We have run our unit very efficiently and we have reduced our bed occupancy, “Dr Coughlan said. “It now appears that, because we have been efficient, we are being closed. It’s a disaster that such a skilled and dedicated team will be split up, especially when there is a workable alternative agreed by all of the people on the ground in Merlin Park,” he said at the weekend. A leading specialist in the area of rheumatology and associated conditions, Dr Coughlan has been based at the Merlin Park unit since 1993, and his team includes consultant Dr John Carey and a number of specialist medical staff.
The HSE said that a range of measures had been planned to enable both hospitals to manage services within a budget of €87 million this year. At the end of April the two hospitals, known jointly as Galway University Hospitals, had a deficit of €4.5 million.
Fine Gael Senator Fidelma Healy-Eames has called on Minister for Health Mary Harney to “reverse the decision or resign”.
