THE HSE has been urged to make additional funding available to expand a specialised cardiac service at Waterford Regional Hospital (WRH) which will save patients having to be transferred to Dublin for angiograms and other diagnostic procedures while saving the HSE money.
Waterford Fine Gael TD, John Deasy said providing an extra €1.4 million per annum for the Regional Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory at Waterford would pay for itself as it would enable the HSE to save on the expense of transferring patients to Dublin for angiograms.
The unit, known as the Cath Lab, was the result of a five-year campaign in the southeast and, since opening in May under consultant interventionist cardiologist Dr Brian McNeill, has treated some 300 people who would otherwise have had to be sent to Dublin.
Mr Deasy explained: "Effectively the service means a patient can be taken from casualty at Waterford Regional and treated directly at the hospital rather than having to wait upwards of 10 days to be transferred by ambulance with a nurse to St James's Hospital in Dublin.
"The service currently operates only two days a week and the failure of the HSE to provide the extra funding to bring it up to a five-day week service has resulted in the hospital losing Dr McNeill and a new consultant won't be appointed until sometime in 2009."
Mr Deasy said he had contacted Health Minister Mary Harney and she had promised to get back to him after studying data he presented which shows upgrading the Cath Lab to a five-day service would save the HSE money as it would reduce the need to transfer patients.
The Cath Lab also provides services for patients at Wexford General Hospital, St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny and South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel and serves a regional population in the southeast of 460,000, explained Mr Deasy.
He said the Cath Lab had to date provided access to cardiac angiography and interventionist services for over 320 patients who would otherwise have had to travel to Cork or Dublin.
But continuing to operate it on a two-day basis means it would be able to cater for only 600-700 patients per annum as opposed to the 4,000 or so patients from within the region who annually require angiography services, he said.
"In 2005, some 4,230 people were transferred out of the region to Dublin and Cork for angiography services; in 2006, it was 4,290; and last year it rose to 4,409 people with approximately one-third of all these referrals being inpatients.
"Given that the average wait for accessing inpatient services outside of the region is five bed days per patient and a basic medical casemix cost per bed day of €500, the HSE is spending around €4.1 million while patients await access to services.Add in another €500,000 on ambulance costs and €141,000 on nurses to travel with patients and the whole service is costing close to €5 million - as opposed to €2.7 million or so to develop the service at the Cath Lab in Waterford Regional - it makes no sense whatsoever," he said.
The HSE confirmed in a statement that it had been informed of the intended resignation of Dr McNeill effective from January 2009. It said it intended to replace Dr McNeill and also recruit a second cardiologist next year. The HSE said additional services would be determined by the funding available.