THE DECISION by the HSE to close 28 beds at Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan from next week has been condemned by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), which says it demonstrates a reckless disregard for patient safety.
The move comes just weeks after acute surgical services were removed from the hospital, putting further pressure on the two main hospitals in the northeast region – Cavan General and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
Earlier this week some elective surgery and outpatient clinics had been cancelled at Cavan such was the pressure on its emergency department.
It was also confirmed yesterday that three patients are currently being treated for the potentially fatal Clostridium difficilesuperbug at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, which regularly has to deal with overcrowding in its emergency department.
The HSE said these three cases were not linked and did not represent an outbreak. It described the cases as “mild to moderate” in severity.
A serious outbreak of Clostridium difficileoccurred at the hospital a year ago when some 16 patients became infected.
The deaths of a number of patients who contracted the infection were notified to the local coroner to establish if the bug was a factor in their deaths. The bug causes a diarrhoea-type infection in vulnerable patients already on antibiotic therapy for other conditions.
Tony Fitzpatrick of the INMO said the decision to close 15 medical and 13 surgical beds at Navan hospital – which was disclosed by the HSE to unions at a meeting yesterday – was appalling.
It followed the closure in July of 97 medical beds in Louth County Hospital, Dundalk, with only 40 extra medical beds provided to replace them in Drogheda, he said.
The HSE said the medical ward which was closing in Navan was only a temporary one opened in July for a three-month period to support the reconfiguration of medical services in Dundalk.