The Nenagh Needs It’s A&E group will finally get to appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Public Petitions next week.
They along with the Midwest Hospital Campaign had gathered 15,000 signatures calling for the upgrading of Nenagh, Ennis and St John’s hospitals as well as the re-opening of Emergency Departments at each facility.
This was submitted to the committee in June of last year with a date finally set for a hearing on November 16th next.
Conor Reidy from Nenagh Needs It’s A&E says having already met with the Taoiseach and the CEO of the HSE this year this is another key day in their campaign.
“We don’t expect any concrete action on the day, we don’t expect any white smoke, we don’t expect any great revelations of change or announcements of change.
“What we do know is that this is a crucial next step along the way in our campaign and on the 16th of November we will take our case to a Joint Committee of the Oireachtas.
“It certainly does no mark the end of anything in fact it marks the beginning of the next part of the process really.”
Conor Reidy says the time for ‘band-aid’ solutions is over when it comes to the overcrowding crisis at the Emergency Department in UHL.
“Unless you are unlucky enough to be at the mercy of that system then living in South Tipperary, living in Laois or Dublin or any other part of the country you may not be able to comprehend the horror that faces people. But you ask the hundreds and thousands of people who suffer on the trolleys of UHL all year long, every year for fifteen years and they will tell you whether it’s a success or failure.”
