Loman"s facing axe in latest cutbacks

Senator Camillus Glynn has admitted that while is opposed to the possible closure of St Loman"s Hospital in Mullingar, that 'everything is on the table' in the current economic climate.Yesterday (Monday), Minister for Mental Health John Moloney said that two 'ageing' psychiatric hospitals would now be closed every year as part of the government"s "Vision for Change" policy, the aim of which is to focus on community care for mental health patients."Vision for Change" was published three years ago as a framework for updating mental health service in Ireland.Mr Moloney promised that monies made from the sale of land at closed-down hospital sites would then be put back into the coffers to improve mental health services.But the closure of St Loman"s would mean the loss of acute psychiatric services for Longford/Westmeath and force some patients to travel for over 100 miles to receive urgent care at designated hospitals in either Naas or Portlaoise.'St Loman"s was one of the top training hospitals in the country and I served there as a member of staff for more than 30 years,' said Senator Glynn.'Personally I do not want to see it go and think that it would be disastrous for patients in need of the acute services that the hospital currently provides.'St Loman"s has a very proud history dating back to the mid-1800s and I am very proud that I trained at worked there. But the way things stand at the minute everything is on the table. The government and the HSE will be looking in every corner to see what is the best move to make in the current climate,' he said.Closure plans have already been put in place for nine hospitals in the HSE South area and for four in the Dublin North East area. Plans to close St Loman"s hospitals in Mullingar and in Newcastle in Wicklow are currently under consideration.Minister Moloney confirmed that the decision on which two hospitals were to be added to the current closure list would be made by April and that despite the state of the housing markets that developers had expressed interests in lands attached to some of the hospitals being looked at.The HSE released a statement this morning Monday which read: 'No decision has been made in relation to St. Loman"s Hospital, Mullingar.'To ensure effective and efficient use of available resources for the benefit of those concerned everything is under consideration in the context of the nationally agreed mental health policy document "A Vision for Change".'