Madam, - The October 7th issue of HEALTHplus reports comments attributed to Prof Brendan Drumm and to an HSE spokesman concerning the orthopaedic service at St Mary's Hospital, Cork. As one of the two permanent orthopaedic surgeons based in St Mary's, I would like to highlight the following facts.
1. An HSE spokesperson was quoted as saying there are seven orthopaedic surgeons in Cork. This is not correct. At this moment there are only two full-time, permanent orthopaedic surgeons providing a service to St Mary's and Cork University hospitals. A little over a year ago there were five permanent post-holders; now we are dependent on locum and temporary appointees to help us provide a comprehensive service.
2. In the UK the recommended ratio of consultant orthopaedic surgeons to population is one to 25,000.
Here in Cork the ratio is one to 250,000.
Furthermore, Prof Drumm neglected to mention that the proposal to downgrade orthopaedic services at St Mary's has led to a withdrawal of our accreditation for training surgeons. This has caused a haemorrhage of skilled, experienced medical and nursing staff from our hospital. The result is that orthopaedic surgery is all but unavailable to patients in Cork and the HSE South Area.
Any forensic examination of our service will show that when it had a full complement of medical and nursing staff, it was efficient and cost-effective. Rather than a crucial service being improved, it is, under the guise of reconfiguration, being destroyed. - Yours, etc,
PAT FLEMING, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, St Mary's Orthopaedic Hospital, Cork.