AN INDEPENDENT review of surgical services at Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, is being sought by the Irish Hospital Consultants Association.
Its call for the review came yesterday in the wake of the announcement by the Health Service Executive (HSE) on Friday that it was about to review the files of a number of patients who underwent surgery at the hospital following the discovery of "two clusters of cases with poor clinical outcomes" earlier this year.
One of these clusters involved four patients who underwent keyhole surgery, the other involved two general surgical patients.
Keyhole surgery was halted at the hospital in August after the keyhole "cluster" came to light, while acute surgery at the hospital was halted on September 1st. The cluster involving the two general surgical patients was known about months earlier.
The HSE said the two clusters, when taken together, along with knowledge that there were low volumes of certain types of surgery at the hospital, led to the suspension of acute surgery at the hospital on September 1st. The HSE indicated on Friday there would now be a fuller review of some surgery that took place at Navan hospital.
While Dr Dominic Ó Brannagáin, clinical director of the Louth-Meath Hospital Group, indicated on local radio station LMFM that the review was of the two clusters only, a spokesman for the HSE in Dublin said yesterday "the breadth of the review will be examined over the next week or two" and the review will have external input. It is believed likely the review will be wider than the six cases in the two clusters.
Consultants' association assistant general secretary Donal Duffy said it was now time for the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) to conduct an independent review of surgical services in Navan hospital.
He said the two cases in one of the clusters referred to by the HSE "have already been reported on" to the HSE by experts. A staff member was sent on administrative leave in March after some of that cluster came to light, but has since been reinstated.
"A statement by a senior HSE official last Friday identified two clusters of cases as being the basis for its decision to cease all acute and general surgery in that hospital. The two cases in the first cluster have already been reported on to the HSE by experts who have each concluded that the investigations and treatment provided were timely and appropriate in one case and quite reasonable in the second," Mr Duffy said.
He said the college of surgeons was "the recognised body for setting standards of clinical care and is best equipped to provide an independent objective assessment of care provided".
The college of surgeons has already said it supported the decision of the HSE to cease emergency surgical services at Navan hospital on September 1st after it was informed by the HSE that a preliminary investigation had raised concerns about outcomes.
It said it supported the decision "pending a full investigation." There is understood to be some dissent within the council of the RCSI however about the way the whole matter was handled by the college.
More than 200 people protested in Navan on Saturday over the decision to remove acute surgery from the hospital.