Portlaoise hospital 'flying it' after battle against downgrade

Portlaoise hospital is flourishing due to the investment that followed a campaign that halted HSE plan to downgrade the Laois hospital.

That's according to John Hanniffy, former secretary of the Portlaoise Hospital Action Committee, who was at the centre of the campaign to stop the withdrawal of A&E, maternity, ICU and most surgery from the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise.

Mr Hanniffy made the remarks about the progress made at Portlaoise since 2017 at a major protest in his home town Ballinasloe, where locals fear a similar downgrade is in the pipeline due to significant problems at Portiuncula University Hospital's maternity unit. The Portlaoise downgrade proposals also came about following significant problems at the Laois maternity unit.

He told the protest, which was attended by thousands of people in the Galway town, that Portlaoise hospital faced the same situation in 2017 as the Portiuncula Hospital faces now. He said a report was drawn up whereby Portlaoise patients would be directed to Tallaght hospital for care. 

"You couldn't get into the car park in Tallaght hospital, never mind the A&E," he said. 

He said this followed steps toward a downgrade over a 20 years during which Portlaoise hospital endured a lot of "badmouthing". 

He spoke about the reforming of the Portlaoise Hospital Action Committee. He said Laois campaigners did so because they had witnessed the downgrade experience in Cavan, Monaghan, Ennis, Clonmel and Nenagh, which he said "just doesn't work," he said. MORE BELOW PHOTO.

John Hanniffy with Cllr Evelyn Parsons, founding member of the Portiuncula Maternity Alliance.

"We found out very quickly that this is all about resources. Somebody wants to squeeze Portiuncula because they want to squeeze the resources somewhere else," he said.

Mr Hanniffy said the Portlaoise committee commissioned an independent expert report in 2017 to counter the downgrade plan. He said this was supported by local GPs, hospital staff, and stakeholders.

"I'm saying to give you hope that we fought it tooth and nail and identified the people who were out to harm our hospital. You must do the same," he said.

He said the data that the HSE relied on for the downgrade in Portlaoise was "all rubbish". 

He said a big obstacle to sustaining Portlaoise was attracting staff and keeping them. He said staff hesitated taking jobs in Laois because of the downgrade threat. 

Since that threat was lifted, Portlaoise hospital has successfully recruited and has flourished' since.

Mr Hanniffy said that after five years of campaigning the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, visited Portlaoise hospital, committing to its future. Investment in new facilities has also happened.  

"Since they invested the resources in Portlaoise, the hospital is flying it. The number of births at the hospital has increased year on year. Our A&E is absolutely fantastic now," he said.

READ ALSO: Watch John Hanniffy's speech

He urged the Portiuncula protest to find the 'good stories' as the Portlaoise campaign had uncovered in its fight to retain services instead of the bad news.

"Everytime they wanted to show a bad hospital on TV it was our hospital. We said stop that, it's not right and you must do the same here," he said.

He left the Ballinasloe protest with a message about fighting for a hospital where he was born.

"This hospital will not going to be downgraded and you are going to decide it will not be downgraded," he said.

The organisers said thousands of people from Galway, Roscommon, Westmeath, Offaly, Longford, Tipperary and beyond flooded the streets of Ballinasloe to demand the protection and reinstatement of maternity services at Portiuncul Hospital.