Galway Bay fm newsroom:
Serious concerns have been raised over plans to cut 108 primary care roles across Galway, Mayo and Roscommon.
Fórsa trade union met HSE officials over the plan yesterday and heard 12 closure notices are to be issued on services impacted across the region, which it argues, is unprecedented.
The union says 40 primary care roles were cut in the western region last year and 108 roles will be cut by year end, with 44 maternity leave posts also not filled.
This, it's argued, has resulted in only 'priority 1' cases being dealt with as part of a risk register.
Padraig Mulligan is Assistant General Secretary with Fórsa - says frontline services will be directed impacted by the cuts which are being implemented in an effort to address budget overruns.
He says in his 16 years as a trade union official in the health services sector - the scale of such cuts is unprecedented.
