The Louth County Hospital, Dundalk, may well close as an acute hospital at the end of the month due to a shortage of junior doctors.
The Health Service Executive said it is trying to recruit enough non-consultant hospital doctors but if they do not, it does have a contingency plan in place from 1 July.
The plan will see the centralisation of all acute services from Louth County Hospital into Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
The 24-hour emergency department in the Dundalk hospital will also close to be replaced with either a 12-hour service or a minor injuries clinic.
Instead the HSE said next week it plans to open the €11.5m emergency department in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, which has been idle for several months due to a staffing row with nurses.
A medical assessment unit will also open in the Our Lady of Lourdes to help alleviate the pressure on the emergency department.
The HSE said it will also be ‘extending and enhancing’ the ambulance service.
The changes had been expected to occur over the coming months as part of the HSE's Transformation Programme. However, the shortage of junior doctors is accelerating this.
A spokesperson for the HSE said they were ‘confident’ the Executive would recruit enough junior doctors.
The spokesperson said if the HSE did not, these plans become a reality.
However, the HSE has been criticised.
The Irish Hospital Consultants' Association said it had grave reservations about it, while local Sinn Féin councillor Tomas Sharkey said the HSE were using the people of Dundalk as ‘lab rats’ to see if the Transformation Plan will work.
