No decision regarding the HSE’s proposal for the “transition” of the emergency department at Our Lady’s Hospital Navan (OLHN) has been agreed by this Government, the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said.
In a statement this morning, the Minister said: “The HSE has clinical concerns about the safety of the emergency department at Navan. I asked the HSE to outline those concerns and consult with elected representatives on behalf of the local community. That meeting took place yesterday (Monday June 13).
“I have heard clearly the concerns of clinicians in Navan as to the ongoing safety concerns of operating a small emergency department. I have also heard the concerns of clinicians at other hospitals that would be impacted at a time when all health services are under such pressure.
“Several important issues, including additional capacity in other hospitals impacted, as well as the continued ability of people in the Navan area to access emergency and urgent care, would need to be fully addressed before any proposed transition by the HSE takes place.”
Yesterday the HSE stated that the OLHN ED would soon become a 24-hour medical assessment unit with support from a local injuries unit.
The Executive said this was the “final step” in the transition of OLHN to a model 2 hospital.
Once established, the new unit would operate 24/7 and “will continue to see approximately 80 per cent of the 25-30 patients who currently arrive at the hospital’s ED each day”.
“An average of 5-6 more unstable patients per day, currently brought to OLHN by ambulance but who cannot be managed at OLHN, will now be sent directly to an appropriate hospital,” according to the HSE.
The Executive noted that when transition commenced, “there will be greater transfer of patients” between OLHN and the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.
“The critically ill patients of county Meath will now be provided with the best opportunity of survival by being brought directly to the nearest model 3 or 4 hospital,” said Clinical Director of OLHN and Consultant Surgeon at the Mater Hospital Dublin, Mr Gerry McEntee.
“This reconfiguration is supported by the physicians, the surgeons, the anaesthetists, the junior doctors, and the ED nursing staff in OLHN who have all expressed their concerns regarding current ED patient safety.”
According to the HSE, Navan hospital’s ED “currently does not meet safe clinical standards for certain presentations, and the revision of its status has been sought by clinicians in both Navan and Drogheda for some years”.
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