Claims hospital put patients at risk denied

The Health Services Executive Mid-Western Area has denied claims by a group of hospital consultants that patients are being put at risk because senior management have not adequately responded to the needs of the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Ennis.

The executive has responded to an open letter sent earlier this week by seven Ennis based consultants to the Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney, in which they expressed concern for patient safety at the hospital.

The two-page letter states: "As consultants appointed to the public health system, we have a professional and moral duty to ensure the highest possible standards of care for our patients. We have informed senior health management of our serious concerns and received no satisfactory response."

The seven consultants who signed the document added: "Government policy is to restructure Ennis Hospital to a local hospital with no emergency services available as inpatients. This policy is fatally flawed from a patient care perspective."

One of the Ennis consultants who signed the letter, Consultant Anaesthetist Dr O'Dea, said: "We now really want the Government either to decide that the hospital is for modernisation and development or that we essentially go down the Hanly route and that is to essentially close down the hospital and use it as a day hospital only."

"Several years ago, the Government promised £16 million for the development of the Ennis hospital. That is about €20m, but a lot more than that is needed, probably €30m to €40m," consultant physician Dr Terry Hennessy said yesterday.

The HSE, in response to the letter, yesterday outlined a comprehensive list of extra resources which, it says, have been provided at Ennis in recent years, including an additional consultant anaesthetist, three additional medical registrar posts and an additional House Officer post in surgery.

"We have also submitted repeated bids for additional bed capacity, extra clinical staffing, and the provision of CT scanning facilities at Ennis, including further bids under the recently announced A&E funding initiative. Decisions on this are still awaited," an executive spokesperson said.

Dr John O'Dea also warned that if there is not an adequate Government response to the hospital's needs, they will write to the General Medical Council and ask it to come and inspect the hospital.

The consultants have also compared the facilities and services in Wexford with those at Ennis. Wexford, which caters for approximately the same population base 50,000 people has almost three times as many beds, twice as many surgeons and physicians and, unlike Ennis, has an Obstetrics/Gynaecological service.

The occupancy rate at the 88-bed Ennis hospital reached 117% last year and this year already has risen to 120%, with an average of 110 patients being treated there each day. Patients are being crammed into the hospitals day ward which is used for patients awaiting day surgery.