Opposition politicians and trade unions have called on the Government to publish the terms of reference of a forthcoming review of services at Navan Hospital.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has highlighted a series of concerns over a Health Service Executive (HSE) plan to divert patients away from the hospital’s emergency department (ED), and subsequently instructed the HSE not to proceed with the reconfiguration of the ED which was to happen at the end of June.
A review is to be held into the services provided, and the terms of reference into that review have yet to be published. Government sources have indicated the terms of reference will be published as early as this week, with one source saying “they are nearly there”.
The original plan was to convert the ED to a 24-hour medical assessment unit where patients would have to be referred by a GP, and then critically ill patients would be transferred to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.
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Members of Siptu’s Meath district council said on Tuesday they met with the general manager of Navan Hospital, otherwise known as Our Lady’s Hospital, to discuss the issue. Following the meeting the chairman of the trade union council, Anton McCabe, said the future of the ED “is of extreme importance to Siptu members in Meath as well as the general public”.
“At the meeting with the general manager we requested a copy of the terms of reference of a review into the operation of the hospital that was recently announced by the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly. We also requested information on the long- and short-term investment plans for the facility.”
Anne Rochford, Siptu senior shop steward in Our Lady’s Hospital, said the organisation had sought confirmation “that local GPs will be included in the review of services announced by the Minister and requested that the HSE hold public meetings in order to keep local communities informed concerning the proposed changes at the hospital. There must be definitive confirmation that the proposed new medical assessment unit will operate on a 24-hour a day, seven days a week basis”.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said the “whole episode has been without precedent”.
“First HSE management roll out a concerted media campaign to close the A&E. They then undermine and contradict the Minister on live radio, stating that he is wrong. They are directed to hold a review but no one knows what exactly they are reviewing as there is no terms of reference. Indeed, there is no evidence that the HSE has developed terms of reference for their review. Terms of reference only entered the debate after campaigners started took for them.
“Given all of this and the life-threatening crisis in A&E waiting times through out the country we in the Save Navan Hospital Campaign have no confidence in the HSE and are calling on the Government to invest in acute surgery services in Navan to ensure that it is amongst the safest in the country,” Mr Tóibín said.
The HSE has raised concerns about the safety of the ED in a number of meetings held this year.
The issue has become politically sensitive after Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said people in Meath “must be reassured that any proposed changes at Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan would lead to improved services and better patient outcomes”.
“Any proposals which would mean people in Meath having to attend emergency services outside the county which would not be adequately resourced to meet increased demand are unacceptable.”
