Safety concerns put forward as reason to close Navan A&E don’t add up - Tóibín
The Government’s proposal to close Navan's A&E makes no sense in light of recent figures on adverse incidents in hospitals, according to the Save Navan Hospital Campaign.
While concerns over safety have been put forward as reasons for closing the Navan hospital, the campaign points out that the number of “adverse incidents” in the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland hospital group has increased by a whopping 74 per cent in the past five years, while the increase in the number of incidents in the Irish East Hospital Group has been 30 per cent.
Our Lady's hospital in Navan is part of the Irish East Group while the Drogheda hospital in part of the RCSI group.
“The Minister for Health wants to close down our A&E and push tens of thousands of patients towards RCSI hospitals that have seen the highest increase in the number of adverse incidents in the country. This is shocking and wrong,” said Deputy Peadar Tóibín chair of the campaign.
Deputy Tóibín received the information from the National Incident Management System which shows that there has been a massive increase in the number of Adverse Incidents in Irish hospitals over the last few years.
“For years, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and now the Greens have sought to infer safety concerns at our Lady’s Hospital as a reason for their plan to close out A&E. They have done this without any real evidence or comparative analysis with the outcome for patients at other hospitals. The response of the Save Navan Hospital Campaign and the thousands who marched with us has been to seek investment to improve the A&E services.
“I decided to undertake my own comparative analysis of adverse incidents in the hospitals in the region. However the Minister for Health refused to give the information stating that it would create a league table of hospitals in the country. “However he gave details on the numbers of adverse incidents in each of the hospital groups.
“The figures are startling. The Ireland East Group of which Navan is a constituent hospital saw a 30 per cent jump in adverse incidents in the last five years. However the RCSI group saw a 74 per cent jump in the number of adverse incidents.”
The hospitals which are part of the Irish East Group are the Mater, St Vincent's, Loughlinstown, the National Maternity Hospital, Cappagh, The Eye and Ear Hospital and St Michael's Dun Laoghaire in Dublin as well as Navan, Mullingar, Wexford and Kilkenny hospitals.
The hospitals in the RCSI Group include Drogheda, Louth, Cavan and Monaghan hospitals, as well as Beaumont, Connolly and the Rotunda in Dublin.
“In the five years from 2017 to 2021 the number of adverse incidents nationally jumped from 79,000 to 105,000. That’s a 32 per cent increase in the number of people who have suffered from mistakes in clinical care and exposure to physical, biological and behavioural hazards”.
“Each one of the 105,000 people has suffered as a result of the wrong actions by the HSE. Some will have been misdiagnosed, mistreated or given the wrong medication. Some people will have lost their lives. Some will have been disabled or made very sick. Many will have had increased morbidity as a result of these actions. The figures are shocking.”
Deputy Tóibín said the Minister has been talking about a meeting of Meath TDs since last October when the campaign brought thousands onto the streets to defend Navan hospital.
“The meeting never happened. Giving the shocking evidence, the Minister needs to end his plan to close our A&E, start investing in the necessary consultant care and start managing the hospitals properly”.