HSE rejects e-mail about Cork patients

THE HSE yesterday rejected allegations made in a leaked e-mail sent by a consultant to management at Cork University Hospital that two patients were left in considerable distress for several hours because the hospital was in crisis.

The general manager of the hospital, Tony McNamara, said he had carried out an investigation into the treatment of two patients mentioned by consultant plastic surgeon Jason Kelly, and found that allegations regarding their treatment were incorrect.

In a leaked e-mail sent by Dr Kelly and published in the Irish Examiner, it was claimed that a 42-year-old woman admitted with a full thickness burn to her left breast and armpit was left without morphine and inadequate dressings and did not receive proper nursing case.

Dr Kelly also alleged in the e-mail, which was sent to the hospital management and copied to 30 senior hospital staff, that a 70-year-old woman requiring amputation of her left arm was waiting for more than five hours for a skin transplant.

However, Mr McNamara said investigations had been carried out into the treatment of both patients by senior nursing and medical staff and the hospital's clinical governance team and the reports were found "to be erroneous, unfounded and very damaging to the hospital's reputation".

"I can categorically confirm that in the first instance the 42-year-old lady with severe burns received morphine within 20 minutes of arrival at CUH and thereafter as appropriate. She also had one-to-one nursing care throughout her treatment."

Mr McNamara told The Irish Timeshe had checked with the theatre superintendent and examined the theatre log in the case of the 70-year-old woman and found that the allegation made in the leaked e-mail was not correct.

"In the second case of a 70-year-old lady who required an amputation, theatre staff received a request to take the patient at 17:40hrs. The patient was treated as an emergency and taken into theatre at 19:05hrs after the necessary prep work has been taken care of.

"These patients did not have an undue wait for treatment, nor were they left without pain relief; to state otherwise is simply untrue and does a disservice to the professional staff who look after these and other patients day in day out in our very busy hospital."

Minister for Health Mary Harney said she was satisfied with the assurances she had received from Mr McNamara that proper procedures were followed in both cases, and said she regretted the upset caused to patients by the allegations made in the e-mail.

"I find it very disturbing that serious allegations could be made that clearly cause upset and worry, not just to those patients and their families and to many other patients as well."