The Health Service Executive (HSE) has been told to halt the plan to divert patients away from the Emergency Department at Navan Hospital to allow further consultation on the proposals.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly highlighted a series of concerns over the plan and said he instructed the HSE not to proceed with the “reconfiguration” of the ED as proposed at the end of June.
The HSE had announced an intention to convert the ED at Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan to a 24-hour medical assessment unit where patients would have to be referred by a GP.
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There are concerns about the safety of the ED at Navan and under the plans critically ill patients would be diverted to other hospitals like Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda.
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Sinn Féin tabled a Dáil motion seeking clarity on the Government’s position on the HSE’s proposals.
Meath West TD Johnny Guirke told the Dáil that the HSE’s plan is the “wrong decision” at a time when EDs across the country have “chronic overcrowding”.
He said it’s clear that the hospitals closest to Navan do not have sufficient capacity and he called the plans “baffling”.
Mr Guirke said people deserve an accessible and high quality health service and deserve to know where the Government stand on the HSE’s plans.
Sinn Féin’s health spokesman David Cullinane said it’s important to learn from past mistakes.
He highlighted the closure of EDs in Ennis and Nenagh with emergency patients from the region being sent to University Hospital Limerick and said this has been a failure — pointing to problems at the “chaotic” ED there.
He said closing the ED at Navan should not happen at this time as “there are too many unanswered questions”.
Meath East TD Darren O’Rourke said a GP-referral only medical assessment unit at Navan will not work as these doctors are overworked and difficult to access at night.
He suggested 20,000 people who would have presented at Navan ED could end up going to Drogheda leading to worse outcomes and “worse safety than ever”.
He said Sinn Féin would retain and enhance the services at Navan.
Mr Donnelly said the current situation at Navan Hospital is not safe for some patients and around 2,000 people a year presenting at the ED could be at serious risk because specialist care is not available.
However, he also said the Government has made no decision on the HSE proposal and it is not satisfied with the plans.
He said Oireachtas members have been raising legitimate questions about the planned medical assessment unit; the capacity of the National Ambulance Service; local access to GPs; and resources in Drogheda and other hospitals and that “all of these issues have to be addressed”.
He said clinicians at Drogheda have told him they do not currently have the resources to cater for the additional patients they would have to care for.
Mr Donnelly added: “For all of these reasons I have instructed the HSE not to proceed at this time with any proposed reconfiguration at Navan.”
He said time is needed for meaningful engagement with politicians, the community, doctors and other stakeholders.
“We need to assess all of that in the round and then decide where we’re going,” Mr Donnelly said.
