Consultants at Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan, Co Meath have said there is now no major emergency plan in place at the hospital and that the arrangements in place at its emergency department are “unsafe for patient care”.
The consultant medical boards of both the Navan hospital and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda met last night to discuss their concerns over the HSE’s decision to end acute and emergency surgery at Navan.
The HSE ended such procedures from last Wednesday, saying it was taking the decision on the basis of expert external clinical advice.
It said because of the volume and complexity of the surgical activity at Navan it was “no longer tenable” to perform acute and emergency surgeries, and that these should be moved to alternative sites.
Local GPs and staff at the hospital have questioned why elective surgeries at the Navan hospital have also been cancelled since last week. They insist it is perfectly safe and appropriate to carry out such procedures there.
Dr Niall Maguire, secretary of the Meath faculty of the Irish College of General Practitioners, said the three surgeons at Navan had now effectively been suspended from assessing patients at the accident and emergency department.
Following Monday’s meeting, the consultant medical board of Our Lady’s Hospital said it had considered the current arrangements in the Navan emergency department. It said members of the board “unanimously” considered the arrangements in place at the department to be “unsafe for patient care”.
Emergency department consultants had also communicated their concern that the department was unsafe under the new arrangements and they had the "full support" of the board.
“The major emergency plan for Our Lady’s Hospital Navan no longer exists,” the board said.
The last time that plan was activated was over five years ago in May 2005, when five teenage girls were killed in a bus crash just outside Navan.
However, Dr Maguire expressed concern about the current lack of a major emergency plan at the hospital, particularly given the close proximity of Tara Mines to the hospital.
The consultant medical board at Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda also met last night to discuss the impact on its own services of the decision to cease certain procedures at Navan.
Consultants there are concerned that patients due to have elective operations at Navan have had their operations cancelled and that they have been placed on waiting lists for Drogheda.
“The immediate concern of the board was the manner in which these developments in relation to Navan surgery took place and the immediate and serious fallout for patient safety in A&E and the effects on other services,” the board said.
“The medical board have decided to request to meet the expert clinical advisors and establish clearly the basis for the far-reaching decisions they are making. This meeting is being sought as a matter of urgency and the board are anxious to meet this week.”
Both consultant medical boards are expected to write to the clinical director of the Louth-Meath Hospital Group, Dr Doiminic Ó Brannagáin this week seeking a meeting.
A spokeswoman for the HSE Dublin North East said that all the implications of the decision taken last week were being examined. She said all the “key stakeholders” were being consulted as part of that process.