Haemophilia centre ‘grossly inadequate’

HAEMOPHILIACS are getting proper care from a centre branded “grossly inadequate”, a hospital manager insisted last night.

Tony McNamara, the general manager of Cork University Hospital (CUH), was responding to a damning report by independent external auditors from England, which found significant deficiencies in his hospital’s haemophilia centre. The report said its infrastructure is “very poor and grossly inadequate”.

“The facilities significantly hamper the delivery of effective and efficient care for patients with inherited bleeding disorders,” the report said.

The auditors visited CUH’s facility in 2006 and are due to visit again at the end of this month.

They found no dedicated space for the care of patients with haemophilia.

“At times patients have to be moved from one space to another in the middle of a consultation or procedures cancelled at short notice due to lack of a place,” the report said.

The auditors recommended dedicated space be found for the unit and that a consultant be employed to take responsibility for the unit.

Mr McNamara said CUH acknowledges the infrastructure limitations in that it does not have a dedicated haemophilia centre.

But he said: “The haematology service at CUH continues to provide high-quality care to patients with haemophilia and bleeding disorders.”

A draft statement of need for a dedicated haemophilia day unit has been submitted to the National Hospital’s Office for inclusion in the hospital’s capital development plan, he said.

However, sources suggested that with Government cutbacks looming, the unit will not be among the priorities and therefore not qualify for funding.

Mr McNamara also said a consultant haematologist with a special interest in haemostasis and thrombosis is soon to be appointed.

Socialist Party city councillor Mick Barry welcomed the auditor’s report but said it is “bizarre” that the Health Service Executive (HSE) is prepared to give CUH lands to a private hospital when the public hospital clearly needs to expand.

“No proper survey has been conducted on how giving over lands at CUH to a private company might impact on the ability of the public hospital to expand,” he said.

The auditors also inspected the paediatric haemophilia centre at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, and the national centre for adults at Dublin’s St James’s Hospital.