There are no future plans for a Model 3 hospital in Nenagh or Ennis.
According to the Minister for Health today who was in Nenagh for the opening of the Women’s Health hub at Nenagh Hospital.
Minister Stephen Donnelly says that they will remain as Model 2 hospitals due to a lack of specialities and beds.
He added that the likes of Nenagh hospital would need to go from 60 to 400 beds to faciliate an A&E department.
“We’re in Nenagh. There are less than 60 beds in the hospital. There‘s a limited number of specialities.
“If you go into a hospital, a small hospital that doesn’t have all the specialties, and maybe you need one of those specialties, maybe you need neurology and it’s not there, or cardiology and it’s not there, whatever it may be, now you’re in trouble because now they have to get you to a bigger hospital anyway, and time matters.
“To do that, you’d be talking about going from a 60-bed hospital to a 400-bed hospital. That’s not a question of adding a few doctors or adding a few nurses.“
