Today on Morning Focus we were joined by Dr Michael Harty, Independent TD and Chairman of the Oireachtas Health Committee as 15 beds at St. John’s Hospital in Limerick are set to re-open.
The Minister for Health says it’s “inexcusable” that they were closed up until now. The 15 beds are among 190 that are to be opened in the Irish hospitals network, using funding from the National Treatment Purchase Fund. Minister Harris made the announcement at a meeting of the Oireachtas Health Committee, which heard the beds at St. John’s were closed because of a “challenge” in securing consultants to oversee them.
The beds will re-open after the HSE asked Hospital Groups if they could be helped to provide additional capacity, but Minister Harris said they shouldn’t have been allowed to close in the first place.
If you missed it, you can listen back below:
