Post mortem services in hospital suspended after inspection

POST MORTEMS at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda have been suspended on foot of an inspection of the service by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).

The decision to close the service was taken on Monday and according to a spokesperson for the Health Service Executive (HSE), “there are no plans to resume the service”.

Although the morgue is still available, any deceased person requiring a post mortem will now have to be transferred to another hospital in the region; the nearest is the Louth County in Dundalk.

Drogheda Borough Councillor Paul Bell (Lab) said it was a disgrace the country’s largest provincial town was without a post-mortem service.

“My understanding is that the bigger picture is for a major pathology centre to be located at the Dundalk hospital. This is absolutely ridiculous as the major maternity hospital for the north east region and the major trauma centre for the region is located in the Lourdes hospital in Drogheda.”

It is understood the HSA concluded post-mortem facilities in Our Lady of Lourdes were inappropriate and unsuitable following an inspection of services last September. The ending of the service comes at a time when there is much local debate on the viability of the hospital if it remains on its current landlocked site.

In a statement the HSE said “all services” (post mortem) had been suspended for the “foreseeable future” and there were no plans to resume them.

They said it would not impact on the relatives of the deceased.