All keyhole surgery to end at Our Lady's Hospital

All keyhole surgery (laparoscopy) is to be ended at Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has announced. The health service authorities said that an ongoing review at the hosptial had identified a number of concerns reharding the consistency of meeting the necessary standards regarding this type of surgery. "In order to ensure the best possible outcome for patients and in the interests of patient safety, the HSE, having taken expert clinical advice, has decided to cease all laparoscopic surgery taking place in Our Lady's Hospital, Navan," the HSE said in a statement this week. It said that hospital management was currently making arrangements for patients already scheduled for laparoscopic surgery at the hospital to undergo their surgery in other hospitals. Patients affected are being contacted to advise them of the new arrangements. On average, two to three patients per week would have undergone this type of surgery at the Navan hospital for treatments such as hernia repair and the removal of gallstones. The HSE said that orthopaedic services, including elective orthopaedic surgery, was not affected and would continue as normal in Navan. Since 2006, no major surgery has been undertaken at Our Lady's. Since February of this year, the practice whereby patients requiring major surgical intervention were taken by ambulance to Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, to be stabilised and transferred to another hospital ceased. Complex trauma patients who require major surgical interventions are now taken directly by ambulance to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, or another appropriate hospital. The Health Service Executive also said that to remain within service delivery targets for 2010, there was a planned curtailment of elective services in the orthopaedic unit at Navan for the past two weeks. The unit will resume nomal service again on Monday 16th August. "Planned service curtailments occur annually in hospitals and coincide with the main holiday periods when non-attendance numbers by patients have statistically been proven to be higher and when staff take their annual leave," the HSE said. Arrangements are also underway to transfer the Older Person Respite Service at the old County Infirmary later in the year to the newly-constructed Community Nursing Unit, located adjacent to Our Lady's Hospital, when the equipping, commissioning and registration process for the building is finalised. In the interim period, arrangements are being made to accommodate all clients availing of respite services in both St Joseph's, Trim, and in private nursing homes. The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) will need to inspect the new unit before it opens. At this stage, it remains on schedule for opening before the end of the year, the HSE added. Sinn Fein Cllr Joe Reilly said: "To my annoyance and disappointment, another service is being removed from Our Lady's Hospital. This amounts to the removal of services by stealth. I note that the HSE is giving no information on what concerns it has about the keyhole surgery service, what it needs to do to address these problems, and why it cannot upgrade this service properly insteading of removing it. The HSE statement raises more questions than it gives answers." He said he also noted the HSE's pledge to restore elective orthopaedic services shortly. "I will be watching what is being done here because, on previous occasions, the deadline for restoration of services after a break was not kept."