Hospital to shut services for a day

Dublin's Eye and Ear Hospital is to close its doors for operations and outpatients for one day in a bid to control costs.

On October 27, the hospital is cancelling all surgery and outpatient clinics and will only run emergency services.

According to a report in the Irish Independent, hospital management has told staff that the day in question will be a "reduced activity day."

Staff are being given the option to take a day's unpaid leave or use a day from their annual leave.

The HSE said the hospital could not provide a firm commitment on new appointments to those patients affected, but said the patients would be accommodated as soon as possible.

The news comes amid growing concerns about capacity in acute hospitals and about current and future cutbacks to services.

Already, there are nearly 2,000 acute beds unavailable in the system due to cutbacks and delayed discharges, and emergency department trolley numbers are growing.

Earlier this week it was revealed that 9,000 operations were cancelled in the first six months of this year.

In a recent report, the HSE admitted that it was implementing measures to control the growth in demand for hospital services this year.

It said bed numbers had been reduced by 519 in January to July of this year alone with further planned reductions for the remainder of the year.

The HSE said where capacity is reduced and/or there is an increased an increased demand for services, hospitals will work closely with the National Treatment Purchase Fund to ensure appropriate and timely referral for private treatment.

[Posted: Wed 30/09/2009]