NEHB suspends two consultants

Two consultants surgeons at a hospital in Cavan have been suspended without pay, it emerged today.

The North Eastern Health Board said tonight that the two men, consultants at Cavan General Hospital, were suspended without pay after complaints earlier this year, relating to what sources called “interpersonal difficulties” between them.

But details of the circumstances which led to the move have not been clarified.

Board chief executive Paul Robinson said he was satisfied that patient safety at the hospital had not been compromised.

The suspensions have left just one surgeon working in the hospital, although the health board said it was seeking locum cover in the absence of the two surgeons.

Also tonight, the board requested Health Minister Micheál Martin to appoint a committee to examine the affair.

The health board said it would not be making any further comment until after that investigation.

But developments at the Cavan hospital came in for criticism from local TDs.

Independent representative Paudge Connolly said the fact that the difficulties at the hospital had been allowed to go on for so long highlighted a failure of the management system.

Sinn Féin’s Caoimhghín O Caolain said a long-running dispute at the hospital had been a cause of concern to both staff and patients.

Mr O Caolain welcomed the call for an inquiry and added: “The health board executive must now ensure that the suspensions cause minimum disruption to patient services.”