A FUNDING CRISIS in the HSE could force the country’s second busiest hospital emergency department to close from 8pm at night from 11 July according to a report today.

The Sunday Business Post reports that as well as the impending nightly closure of the emergency department at Limerick Mid-Western Regional Hospital, management at the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth have warned of a drastic reduction in the number of services it could offer.

The potential cuts are a result of the “chronic shortage” of non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHD) who are due to take up new contracts on 11 July. The HSE has recruited just 40 per cent of NCHD posts required to man the department at Limerick Mid-Western.

There has already been considerable anger expressed at the impending closure of the A&E department at St. Columcilles’s Hospital in Loughlinstown in Co Dublin which dealt with 21,000 cases last year.

There were also reports on Friday that the A&E at Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise, Co Laois will be forced to close at 10pm each night because of the shortages in the health service.

The HSE has said it is working with the Medical Council and others to find a solution to the crisis which it says it is well aware of, according to the Business Post.

Read more from Susan Mitchell in today’s Sunday Business Post >