“Absolutely unacceptable,” That was the reaction of Cllr Heather Humphreys to the announcement this week that the HSE is to cut the Out of Hours Doctors Service in the North East. As of March 1^st, cuts will be implemented at all four bases in the NE Doctor on Call at Castleblayney, Cavan, Drogheda and Cavan. “Not content with the stripping down of services at Monaghan Hospital, the HSE is now determined to go after our primary care services. The announcement this week that the overnight GP service in Castleblayney is to be abolished is totally unacceptable. It is unthinkable that a situation would arise where only one doctor is in place to serve the people of Cavan and Monaghan after 11pm at night.”

Cllr Humphreys said the latest cut to local health services highlighted the complete and utter disregard that the HSE had for the people of Co.Monaghan. Humphreys said it was clear that the HSE was not working in its current format and she was fully supportive of Fine Gael’s Faircare plan to overhaul it.

“Micheal Martin created the HSE and subsequently Mary Harney allowed it to become a bureaucratic nightmare. Even at the height of the boom years our Health Service was in complete disarray, it became a black hole in terms of wasted money with no end results for the patient. I can say with certainty that the HSE would not be missed by the people of Monaghan.”

Cllr Humphreys went on to outline what she hoped a new FG government could achieve for Monaghan Hospital. She said it was vital that current services are retained and in time, expanded upon.

“I would be of the view that our Minor Injuries Unit should be expanded upon to become a Medical Assessment Unit. The staff at Cavan are doing tremendous work but they are over run with the current workload, I believe the development of a Medical Assessment Unit at Monaghan would help to alleviate this pressure. Most of the structures and facilities are in place at Monaghan so the cost would be relatively low. Realistically, I would envisage it to run five days a week.”

Cllr Humphreys said she would be involved in further consultation with FG Health Spokesperson Dr. James Reilly on the issue of Monaghan Hospital in the near future.