PRESS RELEASE - 24 hour A & E SERVICES SHOULD BE KEPT IN WEXFORD - TWOMEY

Fine Gael’s Dr. Liam Twomey has vowed to keep the pressure on the Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney and the HSE regarding Wexford’s General Hospital A & E. “As an Oireachtas member, I have been told that no decision has yet been made regarding the closure of the A & E and I hope that this is the case. I firmly believe that the A & E in Wexford should remain a 24 hour facility and should not be reduced to operating between 8am and midnight.”
Dr. Twomey, referring to Ennis Hospital losing its acute services last year between 8pm and 8am, said that comparisons cannot be made between Ennis and Wexford. “Ennis is a far smaller hospital with only about 70 beds. Wexford has over 200 beds and has major specialities.”
Dr. Twomey said that the HSE are putting a spin on the low numbers of patients being seen in Wexford’s A & E between midnight and 8am in the morning. “But the HSE is ignoring the fact that the patients that come to A & E during those hours are the sickest patients, who would then have to travel a minimum of 1 hour to Waterford or perhaps even a couple of hours to a Dublin hospital. Even though we have a good ambulance service with many of the ambulance drivers being trained up to paramedic level, there is just not enough capacity in the ambulance service to be able to move patients these distances while still maintaining an ambulance service for the county.”
Dr. Twomey added that we are spending 16 billion annually on our health system, so the money is being spent but it is a question of using this money in the best way so that patients get the best care. “Savings can be made in other ways. Closing the A & E at night will only result in putting the sickest patients at risk. Wexford lost acute orthopaedic surgery and breast cancer surgery to Waterford but Wexford GPs will not support any reduction in acute services. I, together with the other public representatives, will continue to fight to ensure that there will be no reduction in our acute services in Wexford General Hospital.”