Madam, - The recent HSE review of surgical services, which took Roscommon hospital consultants by surprise, recommends the closure of Roscommon County Hospital inpatient surgical beds and the transfer of all consultant surgeons to Ballinasloe Hospital. It would retain consultant anaesthetic and medical services in situ for the time being.
The HSE seems to be breaking chief executive Prof Drumm's promise to the Oireachtas that no service would be closed or downgraded until a better service was already in place. The HSE's proposal is that Roscommon inpatient surgery should be "squeezed" into Ballinasloe Hospital without the immediate provision of any extra inpatient surgical or intensive care beds. It gives a vague promise of extra resources being available at Ballinasloe hospital in two years, but in the present economic climate, will this ever happen? The briefing euphemistically states that "existing facilities can be used in the meantime". This seems to go directly against Prof Drumm's promise.
In our view, if the HSE's proposal goes ahead, it will be a prelude to the downgrading of the A&E department, as is happening in the A&E department of Monaghan hospital. After a while the HSE will probably say that because there is no 24/7 consultant surgical cover in Roscommon (since surgeons have been transferred to Ballinasloe), it is no longer safe to operate a 24/7 A&E department in Roscommon.
Doubtless, a similar review of A&E services in the area, as was carried out in Monaghan hospital area, will announce that Roscommon A&E will be medically staffed from 9am to 5pm only and by nursing staff after 5pm. After that time all Roscommon A&E urgent cases will probably also be "squeezed" into Ballinasloe A&E department with resultant overcrowding and an increase in death rates for life-threatening conditions caused by travelling the extra distance.
The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, in a pre-election visit to Roscommon in May 2007, promised that surgery would continue in Roscommon County Hospital. It was later clarified that he was referring to inpatient surgery. Does his word, or Prof Drumm's, mean anything at all? - Yours, etc,
CHARLES BYRNE,
Consultant Psychiatrist,
OLIVER CLINTON,
LIAM McMULLIN,
Consultant Surgeons,
Roscommon County Hospital,
Roscommon.