‘Body count will rise over lack of surgery’
Last night, chair of the Monaghan Hospital Community Alliance Peadar McMahon described as “hogwash” and “a terrible blow” a recommendation from the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI) that all patients in need of acute surgical services continue to be transferred to Cavan General Hospital.
The alliance has campaigned for the restoration of emergency surgery to Monaghan General, blaming the lack of acute surgical care on a number of patient deaths in the region, the most recent being that of Patrick Joseph Walsh, 75, from Killanny, Carrickmacross. He bled to death after failed attempts by staff at Monaghan Hospital to transfer him to three other hospitals for emergency surgery.
However, president of the RCSI Prof Niall O’Higgins defended the recommendation, arguing centralised services provided the best care option.
“It is simply not possible in the interests of good patient care to have acute care available in a multiplicity of sites. It is essential that one centre is established, otherwise the quality of care declines and the patient suffers.”
The recommendation was one of a series concerning surgical services in Cavan/Monaghan outlined yesterday by the National Hospitals Office and the RCSI.
They follow an RCSI report last November which described the Cavan surgery unit as “dysfunctional”.
The RCSI has recommended an around-the- clock five-man surgical unit be located at Cavan with each member of the unit spending one day per week at Monaghan General, but not out of hours.
The five-man unit will consist of two new consultants as well as Mr Noel McMurray, already based at Cavan General, and Mr William Joyce and Mr Pawan Rajpal, both suspended in 2003 over “inter-personal difficulties”. Mr Rajpal returned to work recently. Mr Joyce has not yet returned.
Other recommendations include all day-care surgery in the region be performed in Monaghan Hospital, daily access for GPs in Monaghan to five outpatient appointments for urgent cases, transfer of all patients requiring acute surgical care to Cavan and the transfer to be organised by Cavan.
Such an arrangement must be made available 24 hours a day by a nominated admissions officer.
Cavan should also have a central admissions office and hold a weekly surgical review conference at which all surgical patients in the hospital are discussed.
Junior doctors are to be put on two-month rotation with different surgeons to end what the RCSI said was a tendency to make them feel “their allegiance was to individual surgeons”.
The new arrangements are to be introduced on January 1 next.
