Doctors in Drogheda have claimed that patients' lives are being "put at risk" because of the pressure on services at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and the "complete absence of a coherent plan to develop the hospital".
In an unprecedented move, 25 local GPs have written to the Minister for Health demanding a commitment from the Department to "draw up a plan within the next six months outlining how this intolerable situation in our regional hospital is to be addressed".
The doctors say that the situation at the hospital has deteriorated over the past five years and, in particular, in the past two years.
The pressure on the hospital has grown as a result of the transfer to it of services which were provided in other hospitals such as Dundalk and Monaghan. Other factors include an increase in the size of the population and a policy of increasing the range and number of specialist services on offer at the hospital.
Despite what the GPs call the "heroic efforts of our consultant colleagues and all hospital staff", demand has long outstripped the hospital building's ability to cope with the numbers availing of its services. It adds: "Yet more and more are being provided."
The letter continues: "General Practitioners are very concerned that, in the absence of a plan to either extend the hospital on its current site or build a new hospital, lives are being put at risk. Morale in the hospital is inevitably low."
They claim that the A&E department is inadequate and often overcrowded; that there is no space for proper x-ray facilities; that there are not enough theatres to service the surgical teams; that GPs do not have access to basic diagnostic tools such as ultrasound or physiotherapy; and that the flow of consultant locum cover is such that "there is no working knowledge as to who is to do what job on a week-to-week basis".
They also say that GPs have been told that only emergency referrals will be accepted by the gynaecology and paediatric departments. This is in addition to a four-year waiting list for urology appointments. It is also claimed that appointments for all out-patients have been suspended.
The North-Eastern Health Board was unable to provide a spokesman to comment last night on the doctors' claims because of the holiday weekend.
The letter to the Minister concludes by asking all of the patients of the 25 GPs to become more politically involved in the matter and to campaign for a state-of-the-art hospital.
It states that the present "chaotic, dangerous, overcrowded situation" cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely. "The tragedy must not happen first."
The letter is signed by Dr Daragh O'Neill on behalf of the GPs.