Louth County Hospital Trolleys to be Turned Over to Homeless
THE HEALTH SERVICE Executive is set to make hospital trolleys in Louth County Hospital available immediately for the county’s homeless. In a dramatic move, senior HSE managers have said that its inventory of 32 trolleys are available immediately for distribution to homeless agencies. The temporary beds, however, will have to be collected as the HSE is adamant that there is no capacity to make the trolleys available on site.
Speaking to Louth Noises News, HSE chief Tony O’Brien was keen to manage local expectations, however.
“We will allocate the trolleys and perhaps a selection of chairs, but these will be strictly on a collection only basis. I have to stress that we are not reopening beds in Dundalk. We cannot and will not impinge on the work of the triage and assessment teams by redistributing staff to manage the homeless. That would be irresponsible. However, we will free up a number of staff for a couple of hours, if necessary, to load the trolleys and chairs for collection”.
Local Labour TD, Ged Nash, welcomed the news.
“This is fantastic news for Dundalk, Drogheda and East Meath, and it is symptomatic of the joined-up thinking that’s the hallmark of Labour health and social policy. We’re essentially reusing assets that are lying idle to the benefit of those most in need. I want to be the first to congratulate the HSE on this initiative,” he said.
©Louth Noises News, 2016.