'It is now or never' to stop Navan ED closure as thousands prepare to take to the streets

Hundreds of people packed the Newgrange Hotel in Navan lat night for a meeting of the Save Navan Hospital Campaign where the public voiced their concerns about the impact the proposed closure of the ED in Navan will have on the county.

The message from the meeting was clear “ it is now or never” to stop the closure of the ED and Intensive Care Unit.

The speakers and many in the audience spoke of their fears of overcrowding in the hospitals to which Navan patients will be taken.

“They say the patients from Meath will be taken to a centre of excellence. We don't have centres of excellence. We have centres of trolleys,” said the Chair of the Save Navan Hospital Campaign, Deputy Peadar Toibin.

He said the differences between the HSE management and the Health Minister over the proposed closure of the ED was only exacerbating the issue.

“We are living in a twilight zone. We have a minister on one hand saying the closure of Navan A&E is paused and yet we have HSE actively putting in place the closure of Navan ED.”

NOW READ:

He said it was long past the time the Minister for Health reintroduced his authority over the HSE,

“The Minister isn't a passenger on a bus. It is the minister's job to drive the direction of the bus,” he said.

The meeting was attended by local TDs including Minister Damien English, Deputies Darren O'Rourke and Johnny Guirke.

Local GP, Dr Seamus McMenamin said that patients are presenting to the ED because they need something that they cannot get from their pharmacist or GP and the reality is that under the proposed model they will need a letter from their GP to attend the Medical Assessment Unit and there isn't capacity in either daytime or out of hours GP services.