Claim that hospital unit will be closed till 2009

Reports that the regional orthopaedic unit at Our Lady"s Hospital Navan is to be closed from next month to the end of next January and that the hospital"s accident and emergency unit is to be shut between 6pm and 8am daily could not be confirmed with the Health Service Executive (HSE) yesterday (Tuesday). Navan councillor Joe Reilly has claimed he has information that both units were to be closed in this fashion and called on the HSE to confirm if the information was correct. The HSE, in a response this week, would only say that hospitals in Louth and Meath were, despite efforts to contain costs, operating above their available budget and this overspend would have to be made up by the year"s end. Meanwhile, GPs attending the North-East Doctor on Call (NEDOC) annual meeting have voiced their anger at the lack of consultation from the HSE in respect of the implementation of its Transformation Programme in the region. The doctors said they believed there were insufficient structures in place to replace the three accident and emergency departments at Navan, Monaghan and Dundalk. The issue of orthopaedic services at Our Lady"s was raised by Cllr Reilly following reports he said he had received from staff at the hospital. He said the orthopaedic unit was a regional one and its closure would affect people from Meath, Louth, Monaghan and Cavan. 'People most affected by the closure are the old and infirm, those waiting for hip and other joint replacement and procedures. The decision to close the unit is disgraceful and one that will hurt the most vulnerable and those most in pain,' he claimed. 'The responsibility for these failures lies squarely with this Government"s health policy and strategies. Minister Noel Dempsey as the local Government Minister has refused time and time again to take his share of the blame and responsibility. He must immediately contact his fellow minister, Mary Harney, to have this negative decision reversed,' he said. He said that, in the 1990s, the Fianna Fail slogan had been 'Health cutbacks hurt the old, the sick and the handicapped'. Cllr Reilly added: 'Twenty years on, this Government stands convicted of presiding over a health service in crisis and where the old, sick and handicapped are still being hurt by their health policy failures.' Replying to queries about their orthopaedic and A& E units, the HSE said yesterday: 'Currently, management in the Louth/Meath Hospital Group are reviewing the budget and cost base and are looking at measures to being us back to our service plan commitments and to ensure that the hospitals remain within budget by the end of the year.' A spokesperson said that no final decision had yet been made on further cost containment measures. 'However, as a result of the trend in expenditure, savings will need to be made between now and year end to effect the required out-turn, and this may have an impact on certain services. Our goal is to minimise any impact on frontline services provided in as much as this is practical, while ensuring that the quality of services that are provided is not compromised and that the statutory requirement to operate within the budget is complied with.' GPs in the region, meanwhile, have said that until there is further negotiation and consultation with all service providers in the region, including themselves, the North-East Doctor on Call service would not support changes to existing services as planned by the HSE in its Transformation Programme. Dr Peter Wahlrab, Kells, outgoing chairman of NEDOC, said that the implementation of Transformation in its current format 'would seriously risk patient safety'. The programme outlines a series of proposals which the HSE hopes will streamline hospital services in the north-east and it hopes to do so by providing more care in the community. However, according to GPs attending the AGM, there is too little information about those alternatives services from the HSE. In response to the doctors" comments, the HSE said it was committed to improving the safety and quality of patient care in the north-east. It said that there were identified patient safety and quality of care issues in the region"s health services which had bee well highlighted by various reports, including the Teamwork Report. 'The Transformation Programme in the north-east is about the reshaping and integration of community and hospital services so individual members of the public will have access to better quality safe services which they can have confidence in. The majority of that care can and should be provided locally, including in the community or at home, wherever practical,' the spokesperson said.