Surgery 'to resume at Navan Hospital' within weeks

Surgical services at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan are expected to be restored by the end of the month, more than a year after 10,000 people march through the streets of Navan calling for its reinstatement. Local TDs and Save Navan Hospital Campaign members, Deputies Peadar Toibín and Damien English, have both indicated that surgery will resume at the hospital by the end of the month, although the HSE has not yet confirmed this. Surgery in Navan was halted in September last year, but the Peyton Report, which was published last summer, vindicated the surgical team in Navan and recommended the gradual restoration of surgery at the hospital. Deputy Tóibín said this week he was delighted that surgery was about to recommence. "It is a victory for the Save Navan Hospital Campaign and a victory for the 10,000 people who marched in October last year," he said. "When people get out and make their voices heard, significant change can happen," he added. Deputy Damien English said surgery was to resume before the end of the month and would be reintroduced on a gradual basis. "This is great news for Navan, but it is a pity that it ever happened. We have to move on now and build up the services in Navan," he said. "This is positive news along with the allocation of €725,000 last week to alleviate overcrowding in A&E in Drogheda," he said. Hospital campaigner and GP, Dr Ruairi Hanley, said he was extremely glad that surgery was being restored to Navan but said it should never have been halted in the first place. "The surgeons in Navan deserve a full public apology from the HSE. The HSE treated them disgracefully," he said. Dr Hanley said it was worrying that the people who had made the decisions on surgery in Navan, and who had been criticised in the Peyton Report, were still there. A spokesperson for the HSE said the Louth-Meath Surgical Services Group was currently agreeing the requirements for the recommencement of general surgical services in Our Lady's. "While surgery has continued in Navan, albeit on a restricted basis, no date has yet been confirmed for the resumption of general anaesthetic surgical services in Navan. This date is dependent on the incremental implementation of the clinical recommendations within the Peyton Report. The timeframe for full implementation of the recommendations of this report is Quarter 1 2012 and the HSE are proactively working towards this date," the spokesperson said. The Peyton Report, which was published last July, vindicated the surgical team in Navan. The independent review of four cases of laparoscopic surgery carried out in Navan between May and July last year found "no negligent errors in surgical technique" and recommended the return of some surgical services to Navan, including keyhole surgery. The review, which was led by independent chairman, JW Rodney Peyton, found that no negligent errors in surgical technique were identified in relation to the practice of laparoscopic surgery by any of the surgeons involved and that there are "no clinical grounds for the continued suspension of non emergency general surgery, under general anaesthesia at Our Lady's Hospital, Navan."