Hospital changes ‘not about money’

CHANGING the role of the country’s smaller hospitals in relation to emergency care and surgery was not about saving money, the Health Service Executive’s clinical lead in emergency medicine, Dr Una Geary, said yesterday.

Dr Geary, who was speaking at a HSE media briefing on the role of smaller hospitals, had been asked to address fears the HSE had an agenda to close or downgrade smaller hospitals.

“Absolutely not,” she said. “There is no evidence out there to suggest that changing a particular hospital’s designation or the types of patients who go in there actually saves money.

“The key issue here is about developing quality services for the future and ensuring that hospitals have a stronger role within emergency care networks.”

Dr Geary said that at the heart of the HSE’s reform programme was a bid to improve the quality of care in emergency departments and patient access to all levels of emergency care

She said smaller hospitals would be providing as much care as could be safely provided and as conveniently as possible for patients.

Larger acute hospitals, however, would be dealing with major trauma and emergency cases and highly complex cases. “There is very strong international evidence that those types of cases are better managed in larger centres,” she said.