Well over one hundred jobs are understood to be at risk from the cull as well as a wide range of key services.

Meanwhile, in Sligo General Hospital, sixty beds are to close as part of cost-cutting plans to deal with an overspend of e 5.9million.

Twenty-five workers are set to have their working hours reduced, some of them to as little as just eight hours a week. Staff will also be transferred to the community sector and the hospital's's drug stock is set to be reduced. Trade union Impact says the services affected include radiology and oncology. The HSE says the plans, which have been outlined to staff and unions, have not been finalised.

It warned that in "some most financially challenging times that we have ever seen within Irish health services" it may have to take "severe actions" later in the year "that will have an even greater affect on services into the future.

Morale sunk to the bottom

A Letterkenny General Hospital staff member said yesterday, "Morale was low before this but it has sunk to the bottom now. None of the staff feel valued and our non-permanent colleagues are being totally undervalued. There has been a real state of panic in the wards this week."

Urging widespread backing from the public, the source, who did not wish to be named, claimed the unions had not done enough to support the frontline services at the hospital. "People must realise that at some stage in their lives they or their families are going to need the services.

"If management are allowed to keep cutting, the public may find they'll have to travel to Sligo for A&E services."

The comments follow confirmation from the Health Service Executive that staff had been briefed in relation to the overall budgetary situation with the hospital projecting a budget overspend of 9 million euro by the end of the year. "Measures are being considered that will bridge the gap. The Hospital is obliged to live within its allocated budget and at this stage it is not likely that all the savings can be made from non-pay areas."

HSE statement

A statement from the H.S.E. communications department said what was being proposed to address the deficit had not been agreed as yet with management meeting Unions this morning, Thursday, to discuss the options.

"No temporary contracts have been terminated, but the staff on temporary contracts have been informed that a reduction in their working hours is a possibility if proposals put forward are accepted.