24 July 2010
Following media reports during the week that the new Dingle Hospital was to open on Tuesday, July 27th, the HSE have dropped the bombshell that the opening is to be postponed yet again.
Acting Local Health Manager Micheal Fitzgerald briefed public representatives of the delay yesterday, explaining that "planned transfer of services in the first phase from the old hospital in Dingle to the new Community Nursing Unit which was set for next Tuesday 27th July 2010 has had to be postponed." "The reason for the postponement is that it is now clear that the new hospital will not be formally registered with the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) which is an obligation as part of the regulations relating to residential care for older people. The HSE had been working to the Tuesday deadline and all outstanding IR issues had been cleared in advance of the transfer date. The registration process is lengthy and not achievable in the remaining timeframe. We will announce a transfer date when it will be clear as to when this registration process is complete." Dingle LEA Councillor Brendan Griffin has contacted the Minister's Office in an effort to help speed up the registration process. "Hopefully, Dingle Hospital can be taken as a priority case HIQA to eliminate any further unnecessary delays" he said, adding that he intends to keep the public informed of any new developments.
Cllr. Seamus Cosai Fitzgerald, who has among the committee who first lobbied for the hospital's construction has said he is 'disgusted'. "The Minister should intervene and get HIQA to see common sense and give permission to the HSE to move the patients" he said. "At the end of the day the new facility is streets ahead of the old hospital, common sense should prevail. The nurses and staff have been working day and night to make the move; a lot of files, medicines, medical supplies furniture, have been moved down from the old hospital to facilitate the move. Currently the old hopsital is running on basics with the view to the move on Tuesday; must they now have to move the supplies back?" "HIQA and the HSE need to knock their heads together to make the move happen -it's bureaucracy gone mad. There is a new hospital, state of the art with modern equipment lying idle– it's crazy to think an agency like HIQA will not authorize the move." The Councillor said he has been trying to contact HIQA to assess the situation - the agency have yet to make an official statement on the issue.
