Protests held at HSE HQ over planned closure of Navan emergency department

The “great majority” of local patients will continue to receive their medical care at Our Lady’s Hospital (OLH) in Navan, the HSE said on Friday, as a protest was held in Dublin against the planned closure of the hospital’s accident and emergency (A&E) unit.

Meath West TD Peadar Tobin, of Aontú, told the protest that the closure would not go ahead because “we are not going to allow for the A&E to be closed, ever.”

A group of approximately 50 people turned up at midday for the protest at the HSE HQ at Steeven’s Lane, Dublin 8, where Mr Tobin said that ministers for health and HSE CEOs would come and go, but Navan hospital would remain standing “because we, the people of Meath, will back it one hundred per cent”.

The A&E unit was to have closed last June but, against a backdrop of strong local protest, the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, asked for the move to be paused. He later established a review that focused on the delivery of the changes to the services provided at Navan, as against a review as to whether the changes should proceed.

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It is planned that the A & E unit will be replaced by a medical assessment unit, and that patients attending the new unit will require a referral from a GP.

“Navan has been busier than ever in recent days — can you imagine what it would be like if those people were all arriving in Drogheda,” said Carmel McDonnell from Navan, criticising the suggestion that people from Navan and Co Meath should go to the A&E in Drogheda.

The population of Co Meath has grown significantly since the decision was first made to downgrade services at Navan hospital, she said. “We are really pleading with the HSE to review what is a historical decision.”

Joan Farrell, who lives five minutes away from the hospital in Navan, and was admitted to the hospital via the A&E unit in June, said the proposed medical assessment unit would require a referral from a GP and “you can’t get an appointment, it is very hard to get an appointment” with a GP.

Sinn Féin TD for Meath West Johnny Guirke said the review was not about protecting and enhancing the services already at Navan. “A review that doesn’t include that is not a review as far as I am concerned. All that is in the review is how to close the emergency department.”

There were only 73 GPs in the county, which would soon have a population of almost a quarter of a million people, he said. Getting an appointment so you could be referred to the hospital was “virtually impossible.”

The HSE, in a statement to The Irish Times, said it is putting in place the extra resources needed to ensure “a safe transition of Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan, to a model 2 hospital”.

“This change is supported by HSE national clinical leadership, clinicians at Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan, and Meath Faculty of GPs,” it said. “The reconfiguration is about ensuring that patients who are unstable or seriously ill are directed to the right hospital for their needs.”

The recent review of the planned change had involved representatives of the hospitals at Navan and Drogheda as well as Connolly Hospital, local GPs, the National Ambulance Service, national clinical leads for emergency medicine, acute medicine and critical care, and the RCSI and Ireland East hospital groups.

“It has long been the case that OLH Navan is bypassed for cases involving trauma, heart attack and strokes. It is now necessary that patients who are unstable or seriously ill are brought to the right hospital, first time, rather than to a hospital that cannot provide them with the urgent care they need, risking poor outcomes for these patients.”

It is expected that the “great majority” of patients who are not unstable or seriously ill will continue to access urgent care through the hospital in Navan and its 24/7 medical assessment and local injury unit, the statement said.

More than 80 additional beds have been created in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, along with three operating theatres and an expanded emergency department. An increase in ICU capacity along with further acute medical beds is also planned.

“The National Ambulance Service is facilitating this reconfiguration, and will ensure that patients are transported safely and quickly to the most appropriate hospital for their time-critical care needs.”