BARRINGTONS' HOSPITAL:THE MEDICAL Council has decided that a surgeon at Barringtons' private hospital in Limerick has no case to answer, it has emerged.
The council, which is the regulatory body for the medical profession, was asked to consider the fitness to practise of Dr Paul O'Byrne by both the Department of Health and the Health Information and Quality Authority after concerns were raised last August about the quality of care given to 10 breast cancer patients who attended his hospital.
The Irish Times has learned the council's Fitness to Practice Committee has now decided there is no prima facie case against him. This decision was endorsed by a full meeting of the council on Monday.
The news comes a day after the publication of an independent investigation into breast cancer services provided to patients at the hospital between September 2003 and August 2007. The report found evidence of inappropriate clinical care being given to more than half of the 285 women whose records were reviewed by the investigation team.
It was critical of a number of aspects of how breast cancer care was provided at Barringtons, saying patients were not always X-rayed before surgical biopsy and some patients may have had lumps removed unnecessarily.
Minister for Health Mary Harney said "this level of inappropriate care . . . should not occur in any health service provided in the country" and she said she anticipated the Medical Council would fully examine the findings. While the council always examines these reports, it now seems unlikely it would begin another review of the surgeon's work at Barringtons, given its decision earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Denis Cahalane, the manager of Barringtons, said yesterday he took issue with Ms Harney's criticisms. "Much of the concern in the report and reiterated by the Minister relates to the removal of lumps, and we are essentially being accused of being overcautious but how can you be overcautious with cancer?
"Barringtons only removed lumps with the consent of patients but the reason the lumps were removed was that it reduces the possibility of missing cancer in an area where adequate services are not provided and the miss rates in needle-testing and ultrasound is up to 10 per cent and mammograms up to 30 per cent," he said.