“Seriously ill people deserve better” says spokesperson Michael O’Dowd
A group calling itself Safeguard Drogheda A&E Campaign are to hold a protest outside Drogheda Hospital next Monday the 12th of December 1.30pm to highlight the deepening A&E crisis in the region and the threat to patient safety and staff welfare.
Spokesperson for the Safeguard Drogheda A&E Campaign, Michael O’Dowd said the situation in A&E services in Louth and Meath is critical.
“If a picture paints a thousand words then the 11 ambulances unable to deliver patients parked outside Our Lady of Lourdes was a wakeup call to all of us.
“Seriously ill people deserve better and on Monday there is an opportunity for all of us to demand this from the HSE.
“Consultants from Drogheda and Mullingar hospital have now written to the Minister for Health stating that life and health is threatened and demanding that he stop the closure of Navan A&E and its knock-on effects that it will have on Drogheda.
“But we also need to upgrade the facilities in Drogheda A&E and seek the necessary investment to make it safe for patients and staff.
“360 people a year die as a result of A&E overcrowding. There is a clear correlation between waiting for over 5 hours for A&E treatment and increased morbidity and mortality.
“Let’s be clear there should be no tolerable level of needless excess deaths and the HSE need to get that into their heads and act accordingly.”
