The HSE needs major reform, according to former Western Health Board member Val Hanley, as patients wait anxiously this week to see whether a ward at UHG or Merlin Park Hospital will close due to cutbacks.

Galway patients are currently awaiting a decision on the fate of St Rita's ward at UHG, which is expected to be announced before the end of the week.

Fears were raised on Monday that the ward, used primarily for the care of elderly patients, would be the next on the HSE's cost-cutting hit list.

It is the latest in a series of blows to healthcare in Galway, with many departments under pressure due to a freeze on recruitment. It was announced last week that an orthopaedic ward at Merlin Park is to be closed with the loss of 25 beds. This has yet to be confirmed by the HSE.

According to Noreen Muldoon, Western Industrial Relations Officer with the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO), there is a serious shortage of staff in Galway hospitals and the system cannot continue as it is.

There are currently 120 staff vacancies between UHG and Merlin Park hospitals, 70 of which are nursing posts. Ms Muldoon has said that she would already consider these hospitals to be under-staffed and that it would be impossible to continue without further recruitment.

Former member of the Western Health Board, Val Hanley has also hit out at the crisis saying that the potential ward cuts have targeted elderly people.

"I think the whole situation is ridiculous, the way they are closing down services for older people. These cutbacks are affecting older people and stroke patients and it is just not good enough," said Mr Hanley.

"The amount of staff working for the HSE now is much higher than all the health boards combined. The situation is simply unmanageable. The establishment of the HSE has simply created a new layer of bureaucracy and it is the people on the front line that are suffering. I don't think the system can continue as it is, there needs to be major reform. The older system worked better and wouldn't have overrun the way the HSE has."

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