A campaign for the reinstatement of respite and palliative care services in Carrick-on-Suir will be brought before the Dáil this week.
The Save St. Brigid’s Hospital campaign is set to go before the Oireachtas committee this Thursday at 2pm, after the group responsible garnered 11,000 signatures on a petition demanding the hospital be reopened.
Carrick-on-Suir’s Cllr. Davy Dunne is one of the local representatives who has backed the campaign to save St. Brigid’s.
He told Tipp Today that the reopening of the hospital would allow people to die with dignity, surrounded by loved ones.
“I think it’s very timely with what’s after happening over Christmas. The trolley crisis: we predicted this was going to happen, and it did. Everyone has seen the videos where old people were sitting on chairs for 24 hours; they couldn’t get a trolley or a bed.
“In Carrick-on-Suir, we had a step-down facility, and there was 16 beds. Those beds were being turned around every two weeks. We had three palliative care suites, and, unfortunately, one every two weeks passed away, roughly. So, you’re talking beds turning around very quickly and people died with dignity and respect, surrounded by family and loved ones, and that’s the point we’re going to make very, very strongly on Thursday.”
He says the campaign to reopen St. Brigid’s Hospital in Carrick-in-Suir was community-led and not political, and that it was led by the support and drive of the people of the area, from South Tipperary, East Waterford, and South Kilkenny.
The Sinn Féin councillor says now is the time to double down on the existing pressure on the government and show them exactly how it has affected the community.
“We’re going to put a human picture to this day and show them what we lost, the services that we lost, and how it affected people. It’s three counties, and we’ll be looking to for all our TDs in each of those areas to support us on the day. We’ve asked them to turn up, and I believe that the pressure will be on the HSE, the Minister for Health, and Minister Butler to revisit this decision, and we’re going to need to double down on that pressure to make sure that they listen to us, revisit this decision, and reopen our hospital. In one shape or another, we’ll get our services back.”
