Doctors urge HSE to defer downgrading of hospitals

THE Health Service Executive’s controversial timeline for the downgrading of hospital services in the mid-west should be deferred until unanswered questions over the safety of patients can be addressed, medics have urged.

More than 80 general practitioners from north Tipperary and Clare met with senior HSE management to highlight their “anger” at the way services are being altered. A spokesperson for the representative group said the HSE’s “narrow timeline” meant that patient safety could not be guaranteed.

Under condition of anonymity, the GP said that during the three-hour private meeting with HSE Mid-West hospital networks manager, John Hennessy, and the head of the reform board, Dr Paul Burke, family doctors raised concerns over the additional workload expected to be taken by an already stretched GP service if emergency departments are downgraded, and the “inadequate” level of ambulance services in north Tipperary.

The GP spokesperson said further issues were raised over the fact that aspects of the review of services report, published by the HSE last week, in particular the development of replacement services, were not being adhered to by authorities.

And stating that the secrecy surrounding the report had led to unanswered questions for both the local population and medics working in the region, the spokesperson said the current services review timeline should be put on hold until concerns over the future of services in the region were adequately addressed.

“There were very strong views expressed at the meeting, there was lots of anger over A&E services,” said the GP representative.

“There is considerable disquiet over the narrow timeline for service changes in the plan, and there is a lot of concern over the number of ambulances that will be made available,” the spokesperson said.

“There is also considerable disquiet and anger over who will fill the gap in services, because we don’t know who will have to fill it,” the spokesperson added.

Last week, the HSE released the controversial review of services report for hospitals in the mid-west — over a year after the document was concluded.

The review, which was drawn up by Teamwork Management Services and Howarth Consulting in 2006, has called for 24/7 emergency department services to be centralised at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, with existing services at Ennis General, Nenagh General and St John’s, Limerick, downgraded to an 8.00am-8.00pm nurse-led minor injuries unit.

Emergency and more complex surgical services will also be centralised in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital by this summer, with the three other hospitals in the region due to focus on day-surgery care.