The announcement that a new fully equipped A&E department at Naas General Hospital will not be opening on Friday as planned is a "devastating blow", the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) said today.
The South Western Area Health Board (SWAHB) say that the new A&E will open when additional funding of 1.8 million for the new A&E and other departments is secured from the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA).
As a result of the delay, the INO say, patients will continue to lie on trolleys in appalling and sweltering conditions in the cramped and over-crowded portacabin which is the home of the A&E Department of Naas General Hospital.
On Monday, 20 patients were forced to lie on trolleys in the corridors of the portacabin and the trolleys had to be stacked beside each other "with no space in between affording little or no privacy to the patients who occupy them".
INO members were informed on Monday that the new unit would not now open because the hospital could not get the revenue funding it needed from the ERHA.
INO Industrial Relations Officer, Ms Colette Mullins said: "Our nurses have kept working under these appalling conditions in the knowledge that the unit would be opening on Friday. They are now bitterly disappointed and cannot understand why the funding is not available. Everything is ready and in place - the building, the equipment, the beds".
The Labour Party TD for North Kildare, Mr Emmet Stagg, described the situation as "scandalous" and called on the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to intervene immediately.
"The manager of the hospital has said today that the small sum of€1.8 million isneeded in the current year to open the new department," he said. "It is inexplicablethatthis small sum of money cannot be found for this vital service and thattheEastern Regional Health Authority and the Minister for Health are holdingup theproject."
The Fine Gael TD for the area, Mr Bernard Durkan, also demanded that Mr Martin act. "It is a total waste of resources and a potential risk to patients' livesto leave the new facilities inoperative," he said.