Surgery will return to Our Lady's Hospital, Navan next Monday.

HSE confirms return of surgery to Navan

Ann Casey

Published: Wed 16 Nov 2011, 4:58 PM

Surgery will resume at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan next Monday, the HSE confirmed yesterday afternoon (Tuesday). A spokesperson confirmed that minor and intermediate general elective surgery will begin again on Monday. The news, which comes 14 months after surgery was halted at the Navan hospital, has been welcomed throughout the county. Deputy Damien English described it as great news for Navan and said the restoration of surgical services would take place on a phased basis. He said surgery should never have been halted in Navan in the first place and he was looking forward to building up services again in Navan in the coming months. Cllr Joe Reilly said he was delighted with the news, which was a statement of confidence in the staff of Our Lady's Hospital and a victory for the people of Navan and Meath who had demanded the return of surgery to Navan. The confirmation comes over a year after 10,000 people march through the streets of Navan calling for surgery to be reinstated in Navan. The hospital was ordered to stop surgery last September, following an internal audit. However, the Peyton Report, which was published last July, vindicated the surgical team in Navan and recommended the return of some surgical services to Navan, including keyhole surgery. 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". 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." Following the publication of the report, the HSE said it regretted any upset caused to patients and their families and expressed its deepest sympathies to the family of one of the patients, who is now deceased.