O"Rourke seeks action at St Vincent"s Hospital

Athlone Town Council candidate Aengus O"Rourke has described the lack of a recreational lounge for long and short-term patients in St Vincent"s Hospital as a " real concern". O"Rourke met with a number of families of patients who expressed concern about the loss of the facility and the impact it was having on their family member. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent this week O"Rourke said: 'I am concerned that a very important lounge and recreational room at St Vincent"s Hospital has been closed off and is not available for use by the patients at the hospital. The room in question was understandably closed some time ago for health and safety reasons while construction work to develop the new Hospice building was being carried out'. The heavy construction work has now been completed and the room remains closed. O"Rourke went on to say: 'This room is very important to the patients, it was the room that provided an outlet for the patients to meet, communicate and interact with one another... They sometimes had their meals there, watched TV together etc. For some patients with little mobility it was the only place to go outside of their bedroom.' O"Rourke contacted the Hospital Management this week on the matter and established that the room can not be opened until a Fire Safety Certificate is issued. 'On learning this I immediately made representations to the local authorities. As a direct result of those representations, I am satisfied that in the coming weeks a resolution to this issue will be reached and the room will be back in service. I am hopeful that this matter will be resolved in the very short term and I will continue to monitor the situation closely over the coming weeks'.