A REPORT commissioned by the Health Service Executive (HSE) which found one of two intensive care units at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, is so old and inadequate it posed “a potential risk to patient safety” has not been acted on, the Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association (IHCA) conference was told.
Dr Paul Oslizlok, president of the IHCA and a consultant cardiologist at the hospital, told delegates the HSE commissioned the report on paediatric intensive care “at a cost of hundreds of thousands of euro” in response to concerns from doctors in the Dublin children’s hospital. The report was completed in mid-2008.
“Amongst many findings, such as insufficient ICU beds and insufficient staffing, the report found that one of the two intensive care units in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital was so old and inadequate that it posed a potential risk to patient safety. The report was endorsed by the HSE and indeed by Crumlin. A new unit was to be built with some haste, with guarantees that this project was of such importance that it would survive the savage cuts in capital spending. At least that is what one arm of the HSE said. In a letter, just one week later, another arm of the HSE clearly thought differently. The entire project was to be rethought and, at best, severely curtailed,” he said.
“So much for encouraging consensus . . . so much for expert reports . . . so much for the care of critically ill children. When facilities posed a potential risk to patient safety in Leas Cross nursing home, the place was shut down,” he added. “Surely it is blindingly obvious that – in medical, moral and even financial terms – the right thing to do is equip us to do our jobs,” he continued, before warning that sick people must come before sick banks, referring to the billions spent on the banking sector.
Last week, Dr Oslizlok said a shortage of intensive care beds meant children’s heart operations at Crumlin were being cancelled on a weekly basis. Asked what had happened to the review it commissioned, the HSE said it had been working with the paediatric hospitals to improve critical care services pending the opening of the new national paediatric hospital.
Meanwhile, the HSE’s new national director of clinical care, Dr Barry White, told delegates there were plans to tackle stroke, heart disease and diabetes next year. He said a study had found one-quarter of patients at high risk of stroke were on the blood-thinning drug warfarin but if more high-risk patients nationwide were also on the drug, it would save lives, improve outcomes and save money by preventing hospitalisations.