‘Lack of senior doctors commonplace’

A SENIOR doctor at the hospital which admitted failing to take proper care of schoolgirl Frances Sheridan before she died has said problems identified in her case are repeated in all accident and emergency departments.

Dr Alan Finan, a consultant paediatrician and secretary of the medical board at Cavan General Hospital where the nine-year-old’s condition was misdiagnosed, said an inadequacy of senior doctors was commonplace throughout the country’s hospitals.

“There is a national issue in relation to A&E generally,” he told RTÉ radio. “A&E is one of the highest risk locations and they are staffed on a 24 hour basis by relatively junior doctors and there is a relatively poor level of supervision because there is insufficient senior staff.”