THE DAYS of round-the-clock emergency services at Louth County Hospital in Dundalk and Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan are numbered, staff were told by the Health Service Executive (HSE)yesterday.
They were told plans were in place to convert the 24-hour emergency departments at both hospitals first to 12-hour emergency departments that would open only during the day, and ultimately these facilities would be converted to 12-hour minor injury units.
Emergency care, acute medical care and critical care services will instead be centralised at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
In a statement following a staff briefing yesterday, the HSE said its plan was to convert the round- the-clock emergency department at the Dundalk hospital to a 12- hour emergency department before the end of this year. This would happen once a new emergency department and medical assessment unit opened this year at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
The HSE did not give a date for changes to the emergency department at the Navan hospital.
The HSE said it was “no longer sustainable to have all of these hospitals maintain fully-functioning and staffed emergency departments during out-of-hours seven days per week, which is difficult to justify in terms of service demand, value for money, longer-term sustainability and long-term governance”.
Ultimately, it said, Navan and Dundalk hospitals would provide only day medical and surgical services, step down and rehabilitation beds, outpatient services, CT scanning and minor injuries units.
The changes, similar to those advanced at Monaghan hospital and in the midwest this year, had been recommended in a report by Teamwork consultants in 2006.
However, that report, which said patients were being put at risk by the way hospital services were currently organised and delivered in the northeast region, also said a new regional hospital should be built in the northeast from which emergency services for the entire area should be provided. However, this hospital is unlikely to be built for years.
In a statement last month the HSE said: “The new regional hospital will have to be accommodated in the capital plan following on from the current one if an alternative means of funding such as PPP is not identified in the meantime.”
Tony Fitzpatrick, local industrial relations officer with the Irish Nurses Organisation, said unions were also briefed on the changes yesterday. His main concern was that the HSE would ensure adequate resources were put into Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital to cope with additional patients it would have to accept. The Drogheda hospital was already “struggling to cope”, with 23 patients on trolleys yesterday waiting for beds.
Meanwhile, Louth Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd said it would be an appalling vista if the emergency department in Dundalk was downgraded to a minor injury unit. “There will be resistance from the local community,” he said.
He also expressed concern at the ability of Drogheda hospital to cope with the extra workload that would be imposed on it.
The HSE said there was significant evidence indicating that emergency medicine, complex surgical services and critical care services should be provided in large, high-volume hospitals to maximise clinical outcomes and ensure safe services.