Govt parties must now stand by hospital promises

Dear sir - From today (22nd May 2011), I will be resigning my position on the Save Navan Hospital Campaign. I believe our campaign has been one of the strongest ever seen in Ireland. The Save Navan Hospital Campaign committee worked very hard in making our rally last October a fantastic success. I believe our rally prevented the powers in the HSE from downgrading our hospital even further. At election time our hospital's anaesthetic cover was in serious danger of losing night time cover which would have meant Navan's emergency department would have only been operating an 8am to 8pm service with all emergencies after 8pm in the evening going to the overcrowded emergency department in Blanchardstown and Drogheda. This would have put the people in serious danger at night time in Meath. There are thousands of people alive today because of Navan Hospital. It is our county hospital and it belongs to the people of Meath. In fairness to Fianna Fail, when our hospital was in danger in February of this year contacts were made by our hospital campaign with very senior figures in Fianna Fail. We managed to keep services at Navan. It is now over to the Fine Gael and the Labour Party to maintain and upgrade services in our hospital. The people of Meath gave them a strong mandate in the last election and they must now deliver on their promises for Navan hospital they made before and during the election campaign. I firmly believe and have great faith in the new government and our new TDs and senators in Meath to all come together and fight to maintain and upgrade services at our county hospital. May I finally thank the people of Meath who came out in their thousands to support our save Navan Hospital campaign on 30th October 2010. It was one of the proudest days of my life seeing the people of Meath inviting community groups, active retirement groups, the GAA, soccer clubs, the list goes on, and all political parties in Meath, coming together, to support our fantastic Hospital. I wish the save Navan hospital campaign, and fantastic committee all the best for the future. Yours, Wayne Forde, Parnell Park, Navan.