Castlebar councillors in row over hospital cutbacks

Castlebar councillors in row over hospital cutbacks


A ROW over ongoing cuts and staff shortages at Mayo General Hospital (MGH) errupted among Castlebar Town councillors at last week’s meeting of the local authority. The row was sparked when Cllr Frank Durcan accused Cllr Eugene McCormack (FG) of turning his back on the hospital staff. The outspoken Independent councillor also alleged the Fine Gael party was ‘telling lies’ about the hospital and its facilities.  
Cllr McCormack referred to a letter, which appeared in last week’s Connaught Telegraph praising the hospital for its professionalism and efficiency in its care for a patient from Newcastle, UK, who had broken her right hip a number of weeks ago.
“Here was a woman who was bowled over by the service she received and she compared Mayo General Hospital favourably with leading hospitals in the UK,” Cllr McCormack said.
Responding Cllr Durcan said: “There is no point in telling lies over Mayo General Hospital. We, as an elected authority, have always backed the staff until Fine Gael started to change that.”
Earlier, Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne had opened the debate by raising concerns about understaffing at the hospital, which was, he said, putting  nurses and other medical staff under pressure.
“The hospital can’t function as it should. It has had its budget cut for four years on the trot and the situation needs to be examined closely,” Cllr Kilcoyne said.
Continuing the debate, Cllr Durcan called on the Government to lift the embargo on staff recruitment.
“We should write to the Ministers of Education and Health to give a guarantee that all Irish nursing graduates will be given a two-year contract in centres like Mayo General Hospital. It has to happen,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s Cllr  Thérése Ruane observed that ‘the community in general needed to stand up for Mayo General Hospital’.
“Frontline staff are concerned that patients are suffering due to cutbacks to the delivery of services. Our health system, in general, is in tatters due to budgetary restraints. It is putting the mental health of staff on the line due to the pressure, while the lives of patients are being placed at risk,” Cllr Ruane said.
Meanwhile, Fianna FΡil’s Cllr Blackie Gavin said there was something awfully wrong at MGH when patients from the town had to be transported to Galway for renal dialysis despite a top-class unit operating in Castlebar.
“It is scandalous and outrageous that this is allowed to happen, and I cannot understand it. Galway can’t cope with the numbers, but patients are still being sent there. It does not make sense,” Cllr Gavin said.