PLANS BY the Health Service Executive to move all acute medical admissions from Monaghan General Hospital to Cavan General Hospital "may well produce a catastrophic situation", hospital consultants in Monaghan have warned.
In a letter to hospital management, the consultants point out that there are almost 3,000 acute medical admissions to Monaghan hospital every year and another 5,000 acute medical admissions to Cavan hospital, where medical bed occupancy can be as high as 160 per cent.
They say that to expect Cavan to cope with a cumulative 8,000 acute medical admissions per annum, even with the extra 25 beds proposed for the hospital, "defies logic and may well produce a catastrophic situation".
They also point out in their letter of February 7th, which has been seen by The Irish Times, that when the hospital was previously taken off call for medical admissions between 2002 and 2005 some 17 well-publicised deaths occurred among patients requiring transfer elsewhere.
"It is our opinion that the existing medical facilities in Monaghan should continue and should be resourced appropriately, unless and until there is a clear alternative, where a quality of care exists that can at least replicate and, if possible, improve on the service that is currently available to patients in this area," they added.
GPs in Monaghan also sent a letter to the HSE yesterday saying they have no hesitation in saying the plans to send 3,000 acute medical admissions from Monaghan to Cavan were "dangerous" and would lead "to a directly negative impact on patient morbidity and mortality".
The HSE claims services have to be reorganised in the interests of patient safety.
Meanwhile, a HSE plan to close the ventilation unit, which caters for critically ill patients with breathing difficulties, at Monaghan in the past week has been temporarily stalled after consultants in Monaghan argued a protocol for the transfer of patients requiring such care from Monaghan to Cavan had not been agreed with them.