NTPF patients return in worse health
One teenage girl, who was referred for treatment of a deviated septum (the wall dividing the two sides of the nose), returned with exacerbated sinus problems and nasal breathing difficulties. Two other patients, sent to Britain for major ear surgery, are now faced with permanent deafness after being sent home too soon.
Dr Tony Healy, a consultant anaesthetist at Dublin’s Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, said at least eight patients taken off waiting lists and sent abroad for treatment were now worse.
He said to prevent this, the NTPF needed to devise a system of notifying a consultant if a patient is removed from a waiting list and sent elsewhere for treatment.
“This would give us a chance to say whether or not it is a high-risk patient and whether they are suitable to travel for surgery. Some patients are being discharged 24 hours after surgery even though they should not be flying for two to three weeks.” The pressure in an aircraft could cause permanent deafness in patients who had undergone ear surgery, he said.
Patients returning to the eye and ear hospital following botched operations were problematic, Dr Healy said, because it meant the Dublin-based surgeon was now faced with the dilemma of performing corrective surgery. This left him, as the surgeon under whose care the patient had originally been admitted, exposed to being sued for another surgeon’s incompetence.
Dr Healy, who was speaking yesterday at the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) agm in Co Kerry, said the medical board of the eye and ear hospital was “very concerned” with the NTPF developments.
On foot of feedback from consultants, the IMO has decided to gather evidence of concerns about the ongoing care of patients treated overseas under the NTPF who are then referred back to consultants in Irish hospitals.
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