THE SAFETY of patients requiring emergency surgery at Mallow General Hospital while its permanent and temporary surgeons are on leave must be addressed as a matter of urgency, the HSE has been told.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) issued the warning to the HSE’s new chief executive Cathal Magee last month after it began an investigation into the safety of services at the hospital.
In a letter to Mr Magee on September 17th, which has been seen by The Irish Times, Hiqa said an issue had been identified in the course of its investigation that it believed “may have the potential to pose serious risk to the health and welfare of persons requiring emergency surgical services at Mallow General Hospital while the permanent and temporary consultant surgeons are on leave”.
It said that at present surgical services at the hospital are led and delivered by two permanent and one temporary consultant surgeons. “In the case of annual or study leave for the permanent or temporary consultants, all outpatient clinics, admissions and theatre sessions are cancelled. However, the hospital continues to provide 24/7 undifferentiated emergency cover for walk-in patients who may require emergency surgery,” it said.
It said concerns on this issue had been identified from information provided by the hospital and from interviews conducted.
“While these issues and this correspondence will be referred to in the report of the investigation on its conclusion, the authority [Hiqa] believes it is important that this is brought to your attention now, in advance of its conclusion. This is being done so that the issue may be addressed and managed by the HSE as a matter of urgency,” the letter, written by Hiqa’s chief executive Dr Tracey Cooper, said.
Dr Cooper also said locum cover for the consultant surgeons’ on-call emergency commitment is provided by the surgical officer in the hospital’s emergency department, usually a junior doctor.
“Can you review this as a matter of urgency and provide assurances that the on-call emergency surgical cover at Mallow General Hospital is provided by a person with the relevant surgical training, experience and seniority, and is registered as a specialist on the specialist division of the register of medical practitioners,” she wrote.
Hiqa’s investigation into the quality and safety of services at Mallow hospital was announced in August. It said at the time that the investigation was beginning because it had “not received adequate assurance” from the HSE that national recommendations it made following an investigation into the safety of services at Ennis hospital had been implemented at other smaller hospitals like Mallow.
This, combined with confidential information it received in relation to patient care at the hospital, had prompted it to initiate its investigation, it said.
The HSE said it would not comment until the investigation was complete. But it noted: “Currently, at Mallow General Hospital on-call emergency surgery cover is provided by appropriately qualified and experienced senior staff.”