The HSE has confirmed it is to "review" the decision not to allow consultants at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan assess patients in the accident and emergency department.
Consultants had expressed concern that an "unsafe" situation had arisen in recent days after the executive announced an end to all acute and emergency surgery at the hospital.
This resulted in a situation whereby junior doctors were assessing patients in A&E, with the input of consultants in other hospitals, including Drogheda.
One local doctor said a patient left waiting for several hours for assessment had eventually been transferred to intensive care, where she was assessed by the same consultants who could not assess her in the emergency department.
In a statement this evening, the executive said its Surgical Advisory Group had "reviewed" its advice regarding the provision of surgical assessment to patients in the emergency department in Navan.
"This is being communicated to the consultant surgeons and staff in the hospitals," it said.
It said there was "ongoing engagement with staff and key stakeholders to deal with the practical implications of the decision taken last week in relation to surgical services in Navan and that it acknowledged "the concerns expressed by some consultants".
Assistant secretary general of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association, Donal Duffy, welcomed the review as a "positive development" but said clarification was being sought on some issues.
Earlier, the clinical director of the Louth Meath Hospital Group Dr Doiminic Ó Brannagáin rejected claims by consultants that arrangements in place at the emergency department since last week were “unsafe for patient care”.
Dr Ó Brannagáin said he believed the emergency department in Navan was safe for the services it provides.
He also rejected the consultants’ claims that the major emergency plan for the Navan hospital had been in any way undermined by the changes.
Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly and Meath TDs Shane McEntee and Damien English were due to meet staff and consultants at the Navan hospital today.
Unions have asked to see the external advice cited by the HSE as the reason for the cessation of emergency and acute surgeries. They are due to meet management again tomorrow.
Separately, it emerged today that the elective orthopaedic surgery unit at Our Lady's Hospital will close for several months from October because of funding issues.
Stephen Mulvaney, regional director of operations with the HSE, said the unit was funded largely on the basis of its level of activity in 2009. Last year, it performed about 400 hip, knee or disc operations and it had performed about 319 this year to date.
Mr Mulvaney said the executive is in discussions with the orthopaedic surgeons locally to see how much beyond 2009 levels it can go with the funding available. He said temporary closure of orthopaedics was "unfortunately" a feature of managing the overall resources within the health service, in Navan and in other elective orthopaedic units.
“The unfortunate reality is that hip, knee and disc procedures in orthopaedics are one of the procedures carried out which has a large non-pay cost. The actual cost of the implants runs from €3,000 to €5,000 or more," he said.
Mr Mulvaney said the cost of agency staff and overtime was also saved when the unit was closed, although he accepted it was "clearly not satisfactory" from a patient point of view. He expected the unit to close in October and to reopen either before Christmas or early in the new year.