The Louth County Hospital in Dundalk is expected to close as an acute hospital from 1 July as a result of the shortage of junior doctors, according to the HSE.

The decision will prove highly controversial as campaigners have been fighting for years to maintain services in the hospital.

In a statement this afternoon, the HSE said they were expecting a number of vacancies at the junior doctor level in the north east from 1 July.

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UPDATE: 16:30pm

Staff at Louth County Hospital in Dundalk have been told today that Medical Consultant Dr Gupta at the Louth is being moved to Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda to replace Drogheda Consultant Dr Long who is retiring, leaving the Louth without a medical consultant.

Sinn  Féin Councillor Tomás Sharkey has hit out at the HSE and Government for engineering a staffing crisis at the Louth to justify their plans to close Acute Medical, Accident & Emergency and Intensive Care Unit in the hospital in the coming weeks.

Councillor Sharkey says

"The latest move by the HSE and Government proves they are hell bent on using the people of Dundalk and  County Louth as guinea pigs and lab rats.  Their plans for Transformation and the removal of services goes back long before the present recession and staffing crisis.

"They always intended to strip the Louth of it's services no matter how they try to justify it.  What is planned for the Louth, a Minor Injuries Unit and 31 step-down beds, is not what the people of Dundalk want. They have made that clear over the years but have been treated with contempt by Government Ministers, HSE and their so-called experts.

"They are not even listening to the Consultants and other medical professionals who say that Our Lady of Lourdes is not in a position to provide the proper health care that the people of County Louth need and want."

Deputy Arthur Morgan: I welcome the opportunity to speak about this Bill.  A substantial amount of clarification and explanation is required.  I hope to raise some questions.  My colleague, Deputy Ó Caoláin, spoke in detail about this Bill recently.  I suppose that gives me some latitude to look at the general position of the HSE and the provision of health care in this State.   I remind Deputy Tom Hayes that the HSE is not responsible for the closure of hospitals throughout the State.  The withdrawal of essential health services across this land is Government policy.  The HSE is used as a mudguard to collect blame.  The reality is that the HSE will do what it is told to do, by and large, by the Minister and in accordance with Government policy.  I need to correct that misnomer at the outset.

Earlier this afternoon, I was told the hospitals in Wexford, Clonmel and Dundalk will be closed at the end of June, in effect, as no registrars or anaesthetists will be appointed to them.  We already know that the appointment of junior doctors to Louth County Hospital for training purposes will cease on 30 June next.  As a consequence, all acute medical services at the hospital will have to be transferred to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, which is already grossly overcrowded.  This is a specific policy intention of the Government.  There is a shortage of junior doctors at present because the Government made it much more difficult for junior doctors from outside the EU to get positions here.  The Government has refused to recognise or accept the standard examination that is carried out in Britain.  Applicants for junior doctor positions have to deal the significant delays and expenses associated with the similar - almost identical - test that applies in this State.

It is clear that the Government does not want additional junior doctors.  It is much happier to close essential services and to corral health care into a number of bigger hospitals.  Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, which is such a hospital, is absolutely bunged to capacity.  The hospital's accident and emergency unit, which was developed at a cost of €11.5 million, is waiting to be opened.  It cannot open because sufficient staff are not available at present, largely as a result of the cap on recruitment.  In some cases, people have to sit on chairs and trolleys in the existing accident and emergency unit for 36 or 40 hours because they cannot be moved into the new modern facility.  The difficulties that already exist in Drogheda will be substantially compounded by the arrival of significant numbers of acute patients from Louth County Hospital in Dundalk.  The accident and emergency department, the intensive care unit and the male and female medical wards will be transferred from Dundalk to a hospital that is already grossly overcrowded.  Is that good health care management by the Government and the Minister?  I do not think it is.  It is disgraceful.

The whole situation regarding anaesthetists, registrars and junior doctors needs to be dealt with by the Government as a matter of urgency.  Unfortunately, I do not see any effort on the part of the Government to do so.