Patients ‘at risk’ while staff on leave

PATIENTS at Mallow General Hospital are being put in potential danger when permanent staff are on leave due in part to replacement levels, leaked correspondence has claimed.

In a letter sent to new HSE chief executive Cathal Magee last month, the Health Information Quality Authority’s (HIQA) chief executive, Dr Tracey Cooper, warned that the issue is undermining the standard of care provided to patients.

The correspondence was sent after the health standards body began a controversial investigation into levels of care at the hospital.

And in the letter to Mr Magee, sent on September 17, it specifically warned that the permanent staff leave issue needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency before the “serious risk” leads to a patient incident.

“[This situation] may have the potential to pose serious risk to the health and welfare of persons requiring emergency surgical services at Mallow General Hospital while the permanent and temporary consultant surgeons are on leave.

“In the case of annual or study leave for the permanent or temporary consultants, all outpatient clinics, admissions and theatre sessions are cancelled.

“However, the hospital continues to provide 24/7 undifferentiated emergency cover for walk-in patients who may require emergency surgery,” the letter added.

HIQA said the concerns had been raised with them during interviews and meetings with staff at the hospital as part of the wider investigation. However, due to the seriousness of the issues raised, it argued that the issue needed to be addressed immediately. “This is being done so that the issue may be addressed and managed by the HSE as a matter of urgency,” it read.

Dr Cooper said in some scenarios a locum cover for the emergency department consultant on-call is usually a junior doctor.

In addition, she said HIQA has yet to receive “adequate assurance” that the HSE has implemented national recommendations for smaller hospitals drawn up following an investigation into the safety of services at Ennis hospital.

The HSE said it would not comment on the matter until the HIQA investigation into Mallow General is complete. However, a statement from the HSE stressed that the facility’s on-call emergency surgery cover is “provided by appropriately qualified and experienced senior staff”.