The North Eastern Health Board has said it hopes proposals aimed at securing the future of Monaghan General Hospital can be agreed within the next few weeks, despite opposition from local groups and consultants.
The health board said yesterday that attempts to broker an agreement on the proposals, currently the subject of a facilitation process, would take place throughout the month.
However, the Monaghan Hospital Alliance said the proposals would downgrade the hospital's services even further. Its spokesman, Mr Peadar McMahon, said the proposals, drawn up last September, would not prevent a repeat of the Bronagh Livingstone case, in which the baby died after her mother was transferred to another hospital. He claimed the proposals were supposed to be enacted yesterday, but due to problems and objections could not be implemented.
However, a health board spokeswoman said the facilitation process would take place over the next few weeks and the health board remained optimistic the hospital's future could be secured.
The proposals, drawn up by the health board's chief executive, Mr Paul Robinson, would give Monaghan an emergency medical service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but "on a protocol-driven basis". Under the plans, major elective and emergency surgery would be provided at Cavan or at other hospitals in the region.
The hospital would operate a treatment room seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., under the management of the Department of Surgery. Outpatient services in medicine, surgery, obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics, dermatology and urology would continue or be developed as appropriate on the Monaghan site. A midwifery-led maternity unit would be provided in accordance with recommendations of the Review Group on Maternity Services.
However, Mr McMahon said these proposals were inadequate. He said there would be large periods of each week when the hospital would not be able to treat people who were seriously sick. "Nothing has changed," he said.
He said in the last week 41 patients had presented themselves at the hospital's treatment room. He said some of these cases were serious and doctors had to make tough decisions on whether to treat them or send them to Cavan or other hospitals.