‘More will die’ in hospital cutbacks
Premature baby girl, Bronagh Livingstone died, when her mother, Denise, was forced to travel to Cavan, because the maternity unit in Monaghan General hospital was closed.
The latest tragedy follows the death in August of Christina Knox, 35, who despite living a few minutes from Monaghan General Hospital had to make a 45 minute trip to Dundalk hospital.
“Last time it was a woman, this time a baby. What will it be next time? Who has to die next?” said County Monaghan Alliance chairman, Peadar McMahon, who is also a neighbour of the grieving Livingstones.
“The rest of the country needs to sit up and take notice of what is happening in Monaghan. We have been told that what is happening in Monaghan is a blueprint for what is to happen nationwide. What we are suffering will happen nationwide as well,” Mr McMahon said.
From July 2 this year Monaghan General Hospital lost A&E services after 6pm, while maternity services were withdrawn over 12 months ago. A forum has been established to address local concerns but it will not report until February.
“The Minister was very quick to act when there were jobs threatened in the Western Health Board but here we are talking about lives and he has done nothing. We need to get the Minister and the health board to stop and realise that this is going to cause death and has caused death,” Mr McMahon said.
Health Minister, Micheál Martin said a hospital turning away an emergency patient was unacceptable and has ordered the North Eastern Health Board (NEHB) to produce a full report on the circumstances surrounding the incident.
“If a person is in an emergency situation the idea of a hospital saying, without any assessment at all, 'we’re not taking you' is not acceptable at all,” he said.
A NEHB statement said the bord could not comment on individual cases but expressed sympathy to the Livingstone family for their loss. A spokeswoman said all aspects surrounding the case were being reviewed.
But the baby’s grandfather, Jimmy Livingstone, was in no doubt as to who to blame. “I hold two people to blame and to my dying day I will hold them to blame. And that is Micheál Martin, our Minister for Health, and the Chief Executive of the North Eastern Health board.
“They are the two people that are the cause of us attending a funeral service at 3pm today,” he said.
Patsy Doyle of the Irish Nurses Organisation said the NEHB had done a great disservice to the people of Monaghan and called for an immediate review of all clinical and support services.
“Five months ago there used to be a midwife on standby and the health board took that away from us.”
Local Monaghan independent candidate, Paudge Connolly, who was elected on a health ticket said the tragedy was a direct result of the downgrading of services at Monaghan General Hospital.
“The shocking tragedy of the lamentable death of the new-born baby in the course of transfer from the off-call Monaghan General Hospital to Cavan was entirely preventable and was many times predicted at NEHB board level,” he said.
Meanwhile, the NEHB confirmed last night it had investigated a similar incident on April 24 that had resulted in the birth of a stillborn baby.
The incident involved a woman in labour, who presented at Louth County Hospital in Dundalk, but was directed to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
According to Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan, the woman was in such pain when she arrived at the Dundalk hospital in a car, that she was kneeling on the back seat and could not get out.
The NEHB said an investigation into the incident had been completed and a new procedure was put in place whereby any woman in labour presenting at Dundalk hospital would be stabilised. Consultation would then take place between doctors at both hospitals before making a decision on a transferal, the spokesperson said.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
