THERE MAY be a serious risk to the health and welfare of some patients undergoing certain treatments at Mallow General Hospital, the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) has said.
Announcing terms of reference for an investigation into the quality and safety of services at the hospital yesterday, Hiqa said following a similar investigation into the safety of services at Ennis hospital last year, it issued national recommendations aimed at ensuring services would be reviewed in similar sized hospitals to Ennis.
This was with a view to implementing changes to minimise or eliminate risks associated with small, standalone hospitals treating acutely-ill patients.
It said it had “not received adequate assurance” from the HSE “that these recommendations have been considered and implemented at Mallow General Hospital”. This combined with confidential information it received in relation to patient care at the hospital had prompted it to initiate its investigation, it said.
The investigation is likely to take a number of months and the findings will be made public.
Hiqa said while it had been informed by the HSE that there were long-term plans in place to change the role of Mallow hospital, “the authority believes there may be a serious risk to the health and welfare of some patients undergoing certain treatments in the hospital”.
Hiqa’s inquiry into Mallow hospital will look in particular at emergency services including acute medicine, surgical services, critical care and anaesthetic services. The authority “will assess whether the current arrangements for management and provision” of these services is safe.
The board of Hiqa met last Wednesday to consider the situation at the 76-bed Mallow hospital and decided to begin a formal investigation.
Mallow is now the smallest public hospital in the country with a 24-hour emergency department. It is smaller even than Ennis hospital, from which round the clock emergency services were removed last year following Hiqa’s investigation.
The HSE said it will co-operate fully with Hiqa’s investigation. It said management at HSE South wanted to reassure the public that the identification, assessment, reduction and management of risks in all health services including at Mallow hospital continues to be a high priority.
It added that the HSE is already in the middle of planning to reconfigure services in the south and at present that plan will result in Mallow doing day surgery only in due course.
It will continue to have a 24-hour emergency department for medical emergencies needing urgent admission.