THE ROYAL College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has said while it fully supports the centralising of acute midwest hospital services, it is “extremely concerned” at AE departments in major hospitals being overwhelmed.
On Monday, the Health Service Executive (HSE) confirmed plans to centralise AE services in the midwest at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick and curtail around the clock AE services at Ennis and Nenagh general hospitals and St John’s Hospital in Limerick. The HSE also plans to centralise all acute surgery for the region at the Mid Western Regional Hospital. The college said the reconfiguration of hospitals was needed so “the greatest concentration of skill mix, resources and service quality” could be given to the “greatest number of patients”.
However, its president, Frank Keane, also expressed concern at the provision of services at major hospitals “where AE departments continue to be overwhelmed on an ongoing basis and where patients who require elective surgical operations cannot be adequately managed within the health service in a timely and predictable manner”.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the midwest doctors’ co-operative that provides an out-of-hours GP service, has said the removal of the 24-hour AE services at three hospitals in the region “is one step too far”. Dr Michael Tangney, chairman of Shannondoc, said yesterday that GPs do not have the capacity to take on additional work as envisaged in a plan published by the HSE on Tuesday.
The plan says people attending AE services out-of-hours would be more appropriately dealt with by Shannondoc. The board of Shannondoc met last night to discuss the HSE plan and before the meeting, Dr Tangney said: “The glass is full. We can’t take on any more work. Doctors, particularly in Ennis and Nenagh, are very upset about the proposals. They are very fed up and annoyed.”
The Irish Nurses’ Organisation has also raised concerns at the proposals. Its local representatives met the HSE on Monday and raised staff fears that additional supports for the Limerick AE department, such as extra beds and consultants, would not be in place before services at Ennis and Nenagh were cut.