Mater surgeons warn of accreditation loss

Surgeons at the Mater hospital have warned management that if elective surgery continued to be cancelled on a regular basis it could lose its accreditation for the training of young doctors.

In a letter to the acting chief executive of the hospital, the division of surgery said that as a result of the high numbers of emergency medical admissions "medium grade elective surgery, particularly in the areas of ear, nose and throat, plastic surgery and urology has virtually ceased to exist in this hospital".

The division of surgery said many of its members believed they should stop seeing some types of patient in outpatient clinics in the New Year as there was virtually no hope of having them admitted to an elective bed.

It said its members were deeply unhappy with the continuing loss of six-day elective surgical beds.

"Grave concern was again expressed about the demise of elective surgery at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital," it stated.

In the letter, the surgeons complained that a disproportionate number of elective surgery beds had been taken to accommodate patients admitted through A&E compared with beds earmarked for elective medical admissions.

The letter also maintained there were significant periods of downtime due to the uncertainty surrounding admissions.

It said the whole utilisation of theatre was "grossly inefficient as it is frequently unclear if the ward is open or not. These closures are never orderly nor are they carried out in consultation with either of the divisional officers or managers," the letter said.

The division urged that its concerns should be discussed at the hospital executive and "a more equitable way of admitting emergency medical patients, which reflects the need for the hospital to perform six-day surgery, should be adopted".

"The alternative is to see the demise of middle grade elective surgery at the Mater with the consequent loss of accreditation for senior house officer and registrar training with all the attendant staffing problems this will bring."

A Mater spokesman said the overall levels of activity in the hospital, including elective surgery, were higher year on year across all category areas. He said the number of elective surgical cases had increased by 13 per cent over the past year.

The spokesman said 2,608 elective surgical procedures were carried out in 2006 compared with 2,304 last year.

The hospital said figures showed that elective surgery had a greater share (36 per cent) of a larger aggregate number of surgical procedures carried out this year than last year (34 per cent).

The hospital declined to comment on the specific issues raised in the letter from the division of surgery.