Navan Hospital likely to come under pressure as Drogheda goes 'off-call"

The news that Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda is 'off-call" for medical and surgical cases this week has prompted fears that Our Lady"s Hospital, Navan, will be come under increased pressure. One local councillor has said that staff in the hospital are already at 'breaking point'. Cllr Tommy Reilly has questioned whether any extra resources are being put in place at Navan Hospital to deal with the increased workload. He said that he had seen for himself over Christmas how the nurses and other staff were literally 'running around' they were so busy and commented that staff members were at 'breaking point'. He said: 'The nurses at Our Lady"s Hospital are literally running around. I"ve seen myself in the last month the nurses are flat out. I don"t see how they are going to be able to take more patients from Drogheda, unless they get more staff.' The HSE made a statement on Monday saying that, due to continued pressures in the emergency department at the Lourdes Hospital, the hospital would be off-call for medicine and surgery but would remain on call for paediatrics, obstetrics and trauma. Adult patients with surgical complaints are now being referred to Our Lady"s Hospital or Cavan General Hospital, while medical complaints will be referred to Navan Hospital or the Louth County Hospital. All consultants have been contacted by the hospital and asked to immediately review all their patients to assess them towards medical discharge and the situation will be kept under constant review by management, according to a HSE spokesperson. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, there were eight patients on trolleys in Navan Hospital and there are concerns over how the hospital will be able to cope with taking the extra cases that would ordinarily have been dealt with by Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. The HSE said yesterday (Tuesday) that, since the changes, one patient was transferred from the Louth County Hospital on Monday and that one patient was brought to the emergency department in Navan following a road traffic accident. 'The 'protected call" situation at Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, had no other significant impact on Our Lady"s Hospital, Navan,' the HSE spokesperson added.