Consultants reject Monaghan surgery plan

A plan to resume limited surgical services at Monaghan General Hospital has stalled after consultants at the hospital rejected the plan.

It is understood the consultants turned down an arrangement negotiated by the College of Anaesthetists which would allow surgery to take place in Monaghan General only between 9.00 am and 5.00 pm on weekdays.

Consultants were unwilling to sign up to a plan which would effectively downgrade services at the hospital by switching from a 24-hour anaesthetic service to a day-time only basis.

The proposal has angered many local people who argue that additional resources should be made available to the hospital to enable it to provide a full service.

Surgery in Monaghan has been disrupted since July 2nd because the hospital does not meet the requirements for anaesthetists training. As a result, it cannot recruit non-EU trainee anaesthetists, an important source of manpower in the State's hospitals.

According to the North Eastern Health Board, "current medical advice is that, for the present, no emergency or on-call services can resume in Monaghan Hospital".

This has led to increased pressure on the Accident and Emergency department of Cavan General Hospital with reports of up to 22 patients being left on trolleys earlier this week.

A spokeswoman for the health board said the A&E unit at Cavan was quiet this afternoon with no patients waiting on tolleys. She said the hospital was operating at nearly 100 per cent capacity but there were beds available for patients awaiting admission.

The Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) last night criticised the NEHB of "careless if not callous treatment of acute patients" in not resolving the issue before now.

Concern has also been expressed by nurses at delays of up to six hours in transporting patients to other centres from Monaghan.

The NEHB today insisted it was "committed to the provision of a significant and substantial level of services at Monaghan Hospital in accordance with board policy".