THE HSE has been widely condemned by Monaghan County Council this week as “appalling”, “out of control” with “a clear lack of accountability”.

Many councillors have called for the HSE to be abolished with Cllr Hughie McElvaney deeming the body “a danger to Health”. “The HSE should carry a health warning,” he added. This criticism comes in the wake of the leaked HSE memo reported by the Post on Thursday last.

Mayor of County Monaghan, Fine Gael Cllr Gary Carville, said there was a constant erosion of services at Monaghan Hospital despite assurances from both the Minister for Health, Mary Harney and HSE CEO, Professor Brendan Drumm that no services would be withdrawn until a better service was in place.

The leaked HSE memo revealed planned cutbacks throughout the North-East with drastic consequences for Monaghan Hospital in particular. Plans include reducing outpatient clinics and elective surgery to a four day week in both Cavan and Monaghan, the closure of a further 10 beds in Monaghan Hospital and taking Monaghan ‘off-call’ for all emergencies. These plans were drawn up due to budgetary constraints under the NE Break Even Plan.

County Councillor and member of the Regional Health Forum, Brian McKenna, expressed his disgust at the February council meeting that those responsible for the HSE memo had given no indication of further cutbacks and assured members at a meeting of the forum last week that no cutbacks would emerge in the days following the meeting. “It’s got to the stage that you cannot believe a word that comes from the HSE,” he said.

Mayor Carville continued to slam the HSE for taking the local hospital ‘off call’; therefore forcing residents to use Drogheda Hospital which he believes is “filthy and not able to cope”. “Are our lives not as valuable as those in Dublin?” he asked.

The council is urgently requesting that all Cavan/Monaghan Oireachtas members jointly seek a meeting with An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, HSE CEO Professor Brendan Drumm and Health Minister Mary Harney to address their concerns this month. “I am asking all fellow citizens to support us in this last stand for Monaghan Hospital. If not, we will see more services removed, putting more lives at risk,” Mayor Carville concluded.

A spokesperson for the HSE said the memo was only a draft internal document. “No decisions have been taken on reducing services in the North East. We are facing a challenging year and we are exploring how best to deliver services within budget. We should be in a position by mid-February to be more definitive about the services we will provide for the year.”