Consultant group condemns plan to end weekend surgery

PLANS by the Health Service Executive to end weekend emergency surgery at a Cork hospital have been condemned by the Irish Hospital Consultants Association.

Yesterday, IHCA deputy general secretary Donal Duffy said the HSE could not expect to slash the consultant surgical staff by a third at Mallow General hospital without it having a significant impact on patient care.

“You can’t take away one third of the service and not create a knock-on effect for patients. We would agree with consultants at the hospital that the proposals not to fill a third consultant post will put patient care at risk,” Mr Duffy said.

Up until the end of March, three consultant surgeons were employed at the hospital, one of whom — Francis Biswas — was on a temporary contract since September 2006. However, when Mr Biswas’ contract expired at the end of last month, the complement was reduced to two, Mr Aonghus Twomey and Mr Faud Aftab. Mr Twomey and his consultant physician colleague Dr Cornelius Cronin wrote to the HSE on March 31 saying they were “bitterly disappointed” the HSE had reneged on repeated assurances the post would be filled upon Mr Biswas’ departure. They said failure to do so meant it would not be possible to deliver safe patient care 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the absence of a third surgeon, the HSE has proposed surgery at Mallow be limited to Monday to Friday with the transfer to Cork University Hospital at weekends.

Mr Duffy said the IHCA was “very keen to see the situation resolved with the appointment of a third surgeon”. Mr Twomey and Dr Cronin, the chair and secretary respectively of consultant medical staff at Mallow General, have sought a meeting with the HSE and the IHCA.

Separately, surgical cutbacks at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise are expected to be announced in the coming days.