A KERRY councillor has called for management at University Hospital Kerry to be sacked immediately to ensure the current status of the facility is maintained.
Cllr Robert Beasley has insisted that staff at the hospital and the people of Kerry have had enough and that the buck must stop at the top for the constant problems that have arisen.
He said staff have been resigning because of the pressure and the conditions they are faced with on a day-to-day basis and he is aware of a number of nurses who have walked out in recent weeks and months.
Cllr Beasley said doctors and nurses can’t do the job they want to do and they are becoming exasperated by the situation.
He said there is a pattern emerging that seems to indicate that University Hospital Kerry might be downgraded and problems have been evident over a long period of time.
The Sinn Fein councillor told KillarneyToday.com that situation at the hospital was “appalling” and that some patients are now having to be transferred to the Bon Secours Hospital in Tralee for procedures to be carried out.
“Consultants and doctors are at their wits’ end and this is not something new. It’s an ongoing saga,” he said.
Cllr Beasley called for management to resign at a meeting of Kerry County Council, held in Listowel, and he said the public cannot be expected to put up with the crisis any longer.
Kerry has a population of 140,000 and with patients also coming from west Limerick and north Cork, the hospital can’t cope, he insisted
Cllr Beasley wants Kerry County Council to ask Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, to visit the hospital and meet consultants and other staff in an effort to sort out the situation.
“I am calling for the immediate sacking of the management and to have them replaced. The people of Kerry deserve better. How long more can we put up with this?” he asked.
Consultants at University Hospital Kerry wrote to the Health Service Executive some weeks again warning that the hospital was in crisis and patient safety was at risk.
The medics have called for an independent review of the operation of the hospital and of its staffing levels but the HSE has denied that the hospital is in crisis and rejected claims that it is being downgraded.
The letter from the consultants stated that they had lost confidence in the ability of the HSE “locally, regionally and nationally to provide safe, timely and effective care” for patients.
The letter from the consultants claimed:
- Patient safety is at risk due to a shortage of beds and staff
- An inadequate number of single rooms is impacting on infection control procedures
- Elective surgery had to be suspended for a period of time
- There is a long delay with a promised upgrade of the emergency department
