UNCERTAINTY RE EXTRA PATIENTS AT BALLINASLOE A&E

Date Published: 30-Jun-2011

Portiuncula Hospital will have to wait a little longer to find out if it will be forced to take emergency patients from the Roscommon catchment area.

A lack of junior doctors in the Irish health system is threatening the curtailment of Roscommon’s 24 hour emergency department.

If that happens, patients could be sent to Portiuncula in Ballinasloe, which would put extra pressure on its already busy emergency department.

The Health Minister has told the Dáil that the HSE is still trying to fill posts with a number of foreign nationals being recruited to Ireland.

And while some progress has been made, Dr James Reilly says some services will have to be suspended in smaller hospitals