Surgery fears as Cavan consultants suspended

The suspension of two consultants at Cavan General Hospital will have a serious effect on medical services, it was claimed today.

William Joyce and Pawan Rajpal were suspended without pay from work after complaints earlier this year relating to severe “interpersonal difficulties” between them.

Independent representative Paudge Connolly warned: “It is going to have a serious impact on services at Cavan General Hospital.”

He said the problem had been flagged up on numerous occasions and should have been resolved earlier by health officials.

“I feel it is a tragedy that it has come to this particular point where we have two consultant surgeons suspended,” he said.

“I feel that it should have been addressed much earlier in the system.”

Mr Connolly said the situation could take months to resolve and that the employment of locum consultants was not the answer.

“Now we are left in the situation that this is going to have a very negative effect at Cavan General Hospital and on the people of Cavan,” he added.

The circumstances that led to the decision by the North Eastern Health Board to suspend both consultants last night were not clarified by the health board.

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.

Last night 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.

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

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

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