PATIENTS COULD be at risk unless the Health Service Executive immediately clarified which hospital emergency departments across the State would be able to remain open around the clock from July 11th, a senior medic has warned.
Dr John McInerney, spokesman for the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine, which represents consultants working in emergency medicine, said a survey carried out by him and his colleagues had found several emergency departments would be short of junior doctors from that date, when junior doctors rotate posts as part of their training.
Among the hospitals likely to be short, he said, are Roscommon County Hospital, Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe, Portlaoise General Hospital, and Letterkenny General Hospital. He said the emergency departments in some of these hospitals may have to close at night as a result, and it was time for the HSE to make the public aware of which units would have their opening hours curtailed.
“Patients could be harmed or even die if this is not sorted out in the next three weeks,” he warned.
Dr McInerney, an emergency medicine consultant at Dublin’s Mater hospital, said this was because patients could turn up expecting emergency treatment at units which had no doctors. He said other specialities including paediatrics and obstetrics were also short of junior doctors.
The HSE is already short by more than 100 junior doctors, but it is predicted this shortage could grow to about 400 next month.
Dr McInerney said while the HSE was recruiting in India and Pakistan, it was unlikely any recruits from there would be registered to work here by July 11th. Furthermore, he said it was “complete nonsense” for the HSE to say the lack of junior doctors applying for posts here was due to a worldwide shortage.
“We are training more doctors than ever in this country . . . the majority of the interns we have trained this year are all going to Australia,” he said.
The difficult working conditions in emergency departments were a factor, he said, and he predicted emergency medicine consultants would be the next to leave. He said he was working way beyond contracted hours and was on duty every other weekend because of the shortage of junior doctors, and yet consultants were “vilified as fat cats” in the press.
At one stage on Monday the emergency department at the Mater hospital was like a “war zone”, he said, with patients on trolleys and six ambulances held up in the car park outside. More than 200 patients were dealt with, which was a lot more than usual, he said, and patients were turning up with much more acute illnesses because they couldn’t afford to see their GP on time.
Locally trained junior doctors could not be blamed for going abroad rather than working in such an oppressive environment, he added.
Dr McInerney called on the HSE to ignore “parish pump politics” and announce which hospitals could not maintain 24-hour emergency departments.
Earlier this week it emerged the HSE was considering closing the emergency department at night time at Roscommon County Hospital. The HSE West said it was examining options but stressed no decision had been made.
Meanwhile, in its latest performance report for April, the HSE said it was initially prioritising the filling of junior doctor posts in Letterkenny, Drogheda and the midwest. “However, it is clear from the number of applicants versus vacancies that shortages are expected in an additional number of hospitals. Contingency plans continue to be reviewed and refined,” it said.