Doctors protest over reduction in emergency care

A GROUP of consultants have come together to publicly object to suspected plans to end round the clock emergency services at their county hospital.

Four senior doctors at Roscommon County Hospital said they feared patients in trauma cases would be forced to travel up to an extra hour and 20 minutes to Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe in neighbouring Co Galway if the plan proceeded. They said this meant many patients would not reach hospital within the “golden hour” essential to give them the best chances of recovery. The consultants, who detailed their concerns in letters to local newspapers, are surgeon Liam McMullin, consultant physicians Pat McHugh and Gerry O’Mara and psychiatrist Charles Byrne.

In their letters, they said their concerns arose from meetings they had attended with Health Service Executive (HSE) management and senior staff from Portiuncula in recent months. “The meetings were ostensibly to look at surgical services in the two hospitals and examine how they can best function.

“However, it has become apparent to us that we are increasingly being pushed in the direction of closing in-patient surgical beds at Roscommon and our service being changed to day surgery only with the loss of 24/7 consultant surgeon and consultant anaesthetist cover at the hospital.”

They said they believed the plan is to divert patients who needed out of hours accident and emergency care to Portiuncula with an increase in travel time of 50 minutes for many patients, and for those in north Roscommon, an increase of an hour and 20 minutes.

Roscommon County Hospital was last month named as one of 13 smaller hospitals ordered to cease providing breast cancer services with immediate effect under radical plans by the HSE to reorganise cancer services across the county.

Local campaigners in the Roscommon Hospital Action Group have expressed fears that this is the start of a greater withdrawal of services and downgrading of the hospital.

The HSE insisted yesterday, however, that planned investment in the hospital would continue.

“We are looking at a number of options and working through them in relation to Roscommon and Portiuncula to ensure safe levels of services are provided for patients.

“That process is ongoing,” a spokeswoman said.