Call for Bernard Gloster to attend HSE meeting

Photo: Cllr Séamie Morris

A local councillor is calling for the new HSE boss to attend a meeting of the HSE West Forum.

Councillor Seamie Morris will bring this motion forward at this month’s meeting for Bernard Gloster to attend future discussions and answer burning questions about the health system in the Mid-West.

The Nenagh councillor, who is also a member of the Regional Health Forum West, says he will pose questions to the HSE at the meeting taking place on March 21st.

The collapse of Shannondoc over Christmas, trolley numbers, and the Winter Plan are some of the topics he wants explanations on from the HSE.

Cllr. Morris also has concerns about the request for funding put in by the HSE for medical assessment units.

“Why are they putting in for money now when the HSE gave not one extra bed for the Midwest region in the Winter Plan? This is an area that’s served by a hospital that has the worst trolley numbers consistently for the last 13 years, and yet we got not one extra bed in the winter plan. Now we’re belatedly looking for an extra €5.2 million for staff.”

If the motion is passed, the Independent councillor will also seek answers from Bernard Gloster about the closure of the A&Es in Nenagh, Ennis and St. John’s and why a safe configuration wasn’t delivered. Bernard Gloster was involved with the HSE when the reconfiguration happened.

“I have requested Bernard Gloster to come and give accountability to the people of the Midwest as to why the University Hospital in Limerick is operating at a capacity that’s not safe. We were promised 600 beds, we never got them.

“I’m looking for answers. Why did they go ahead with reconfiguration without the proper and safe numbers of beds that was promised for a safe reconfiguration? 13 years later, we still haven’t achieved the number of beds that we were promised.”