Ambulances to bypass Navan from this week

A decision by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to stop the practice of bringing trauma patients to Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, to be stabilised before transfer to another hospital, is a recipe for creating danger to the lives of people who have been seriously injured in accidents, Meath's two Fine Gael TDs claimed this week. From this Friday, complex trauma patients who require major surgical interventions will be taken directly by ambulance to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda or another appropriate hospital. The HSE insisted that the move was being taken in the interests of patient safety and to ensure the best possible outcome for patients. It added that the existing practice meant that patients would not be admitted to the Navan hospital but would merely be taken there for stabilisation. The move has also been condemned by the Mayor of Navan, Cllr Joe Reilly, who said that two serious situations arose from the HSE's decision - that only five ambulance personnel had undergone advanced paramedical training, and patients would now be going to the Lourdes Hospital, which was already under severe pressure because of the number of patients using the facility. The HSE said that a number of independent reports conducted in recent years in the provision of acute major surgical services in Our Lady's Hospital had consistently highlighted that the resources necessary to provide these services were not in place in Navan and trauma should be moved to Our Lady of Lourdes. Dr Dominic " Brannagain, clinical director with the HSE, said the best principle of advanced trauma life support indicated that an initial longer ambulance journey to a better-staffed and equipped trauma unit rather than management in a smaller unit followed by a second ambulance journey later was preferable in terms of improved patients' outcome. "Since 2006, no major surgery is undertaken at Our Lady's Hospital, Navan. Complex trauma patients are seen in the emergency department, stabilised and then a bed is sought in a suitable hospital. This results in delays in patients getting to a hospital site with the necessary clinical personnel and equipment available to intervene appropriately. It is very important in the interests of patient safety that these patients are taken directly to another hospital for treatment without any delay," he said. "None of these patients are currently admitted to Our Lady's Hospital, Navan. The current practice has posed a further risk as anaesthetic staff from Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, may have to travel with the patient and stay with the patient until they are admitted to the receiving hospital," added Dr " Brannagain. He said that a recent meeting to review the provision of surgical services in Our Lady's Hospital considered it unsafe to continue the existing practice. The decision to make the change had been made on the basis of the various reports over the years. Emergency department physicians, anaesthetists, orthopaedic surgeons and general surgeons have all sought to have this practice changed for many years, he added. The HSE stressed that the following services would continue at Navan: medical services, surgical services, elective orthopaedic services, outpatient services, laboratory and radiology, 24-hour emergency department aand 12-hour medical assessment unit. Deputies Damien English and Shane McEntee, however, said pledged to continue the fight to shift surgery from Navan to Drogheda. They criticised the county's four Fianna Fail TDs "for yet again failing the county". Deputy English said: "The news that all trauma cases will drive by Our Lady's Hospital in Navan in a terrible blow to Meath and all its residents. The Government and the HSE has clearly deliberately downgraded Navan Hospital over the last few years to pave the way for this decision. But even more worrying is how Meath's four Fianna Fail TDs have sold the county short." The TDs claimed there had been 12 years of under investment in Navan Hospital by Fianna Fail. They said the HSE had blamed a lack of resources and had quoted various reports in support of its latest decision. "If Navan Hospital fares badly in any report, it is because it was engineered that way by lack of investment by successive Fianna Fail governments over the last 10 years, both in human and financial resources." Cllr Reilly described a number of scenarios in which he said patients' lives would be put at risk through the new arrangement being put into operation from this Friday. "It is my information that there are only two ambulances available at night to cover the whole county of Meath. If an accident occurs in Kildalkey or Trim, the two ambulances could be tied up for a number of hours by the time they get to the scene, take the patients into the ambulances, go to Drogheda and then get back. I can't understand the logic of this move. The HSE has never adequately answered questions about the overcrowding at the Lourdes Hospital," he said. "In my view, this latest move will be dangerous for patients. Of course, it is also another part of the deliberate running down of Navan Hospital. "I am calling yet again on the medical profession in Meath to get off the fence and lend their voices to oppose the running down of services in Meath. I know they are expressing certain views in private, but they ought to come out front and tell the HSE exactly what it is doing wrong," he said.