A&E swamped by freeze fall fracture victims

More than 50 Navan pedestrians were taken to hospital following falls on icy footpaths in the town on Christmas Eve. The treacherous conditions on the town's footpaths and car parks on what is normally the busiest shopping day of the year led to a furious reaction by local residents, businesses and public representatives. The casualty department of Our Lady's Hospital was overwhelmed by the numbers turning up with injuries and, as the numbers of injured grew, many were asked to attend the A&E department in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda instead. A total of 15 people whose injuries were diagnosed in Navan had to be transferred to Drogheda for surgery on bone fractures. There has been a furious reaction in the town to the condition of the footpaths, which remained icy and dangerous over the entire Christmas period and there have been reports of injuries as people made their way to Mass on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Roads around the county also caused major problems over the festive period with many minor accidents, most of them single vehicle collisions, reported across the county. However there were no serious injuries on the roads. A broken jaw, broken teeth, head injuries, broken limbs and sprains were among the injuries reported in Navan on Christmas Eve. One woman who endured a painful Christmas was Emma Murphy who fell outside the Brew Hill car park on Christmas Eve. "I fell on my face and now have a black eye and bruising all over my right side. I incurred a huge bump on my head and was very shaken. The car park was like a skating rink, as was the rest of Navan town. Not once did I see any council workers salting pavements or car parks," she said. She said that when she attended Navan Hospital for her injuries, 64 people had already been admitted following falls in the town. Cllr Peadar Tóibín witnessed a man in his 50s walking carefully along the Market Square only to fall hard on his head. "The poor man was dazed as a result and had to be helped into a taxi. I understand the accident and emergency unit in Our Lady's Hospital was inundated with people who had suffered fractures, broken bones and broken teeth," he said. "The paths and roads in Navan were the worst that I have ever seen. Rain fell onto frozen surfaces and froze on contact. This left a film of treacherous ice all over the town for days. The situation was especially serious at Church Hill, Brews Hill, Flower Hill and Ludlow Street. Certain car parks and back roads were nearly impossible to navigate. Indeed, some people were forced to abandon their vehicles," he said. He pointed out that many shoppers stayed away from the shops due to the real danger in getting about. "I understand that the weather over the weekend was extreme, however, it was forecasted well in advance. I spoke to council staff on the preceding Thursday requesting that neccessary gritting provisions were provided for. On Christmas Eve, I contacted the council on a number of occasions looking for paths to be gritted and to draw attention to the emergency situation. "I know that extreme Government cutbacks are not helping the situation. However, the primary responsibility of the council is to ensure a safe environment for the citizens of Navan. To do this, the neccessary provisions need to be put in place now," he said. Cllr Tóibin has tabled a motion for next Tuesday night's meeting of Navan Town Council calling on the council to ensure that that all paths and roads in the town are salted and gritted thoroughly in the future and that adequate salt and grit stocks are maintained for the rest of the this winter. Cllr Francis Deane, who ferried a number of the injured to hospital, was furious that there was no emergency plan in place, despite severe weather warnings that had been issued days before. "I had to take several people to Hospital. Kennedy Road, in particular, was lethal. There was a funeral in St Mary's and the hearse had to be pushed in from the street, the ice was so bad. I have never seen the footpaths so treacherous in all my life," he said. Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons said he had seen two people falling as he made his way to work that morning and there seemed to be ambulances in the town all day taking the injured to hospital. "I spoke to somebody who told me there were over 70 taken to hospital after falls," he said. Cllr Fitzsimons said that traders in the town were livid at the conditions, which resulted in business being down dramatically on previous Christmas Eves and St Stephen's Days. Brendan O'Dea of Navan Retailers' Association said conditions were scandalous and he had seen four ambulances ferrying people to hospital with injuries. "Metges Lane was a solid block of ice. It was lethal and we tried to contact the council but couldn't get an answer," he said. Cllr Tommy Reilly said the casualty department in Navan was jammed with the injured people. He added that business had been down around 50 per cent on previous years. Cllr Suzanne Jamal said money would have to be set aside for treating the roads and footpaths. She had never seen the town as bad as it was on Christmas Eve and over the Christmas period. She believed the terrible conditions resulted from a lack of funding available to the council to carry out this work. Conditions in the south of the county were also very dangerous and Cllr Tracey McElhinney said roads around Ballivor, Hill of Down, Longwood and Clonard were in a terrible state. "We had five car accidents in Ballivor on icy roads and two elderly men fell coming out of Mass over Christmas," she said. "We seem to be have been forgotten about down here and we are very angry. People cannot get around the village with the ice, the milk lorry couldn't get through because of the state of the roads and a bread van crashed. Local commuters had to crawl to get to work," she said. Cllr John Farrelly agreed that road conditions around the county had been treacherous, particularly many of the rural roads in north Meath. He expressed anger that the heavily trafficked Woodtown to Kingscourt road through Drumconrath had not been gritted. "This is a road that should be done as it is always fairly busy and, in places, there are sheer drops of eight to 10 feet, just off the side of the road. Meath County council spokesman Bill Sweeney said the problems were caused by he extreme severity of the weather. Because temperatures remains at freezing during the daytime, gritting would not have been effective. "Gritting is only effective if there is a thaw and you can grit again before the frost comes, but the sheer severity of the weather meant there was only so much we could do," he said. He said crews had been out in Navan gritting the footpaths over the Christmas period but there was only so much they were able do. Mr Sweeney added the council carried out an extensive road-gritting programme across the county, targeting the busiest and most heavily trafficked routes, and salted 461km of road in the county each time icy roads were predicted.