Waiting lists for surgery at Cavan General Hospital are continuing to lengthen because the North Eastern Health Board has done nothing to ensure beds are ring-fenced for patients needing surgery, according to a member of the hospital's medical board.
Dr Alan Finan said yesterday that despite a recommendation in a report over a month ago from the board's medical adviser, Mr Finbarr Lennon, that protected day and five-day beds be put at the disposal of the surgical team in Cavan "without delay", this had not happened.
As a result, he said, patients' appointments for elective surgery were being cancelled daily.
The surgical day ward was constantly full of medical inpatients so day surgery could not take place. Surgical beds in the main hospital continued to be used for non-surgical patients.
He said the health board was recruiting a third locum consultant surgeon for the hospital, but there was little point in appointing a third locum unless beds were provided for his or her patients. There was adequate space in the hospital for additional beds.
A spokeswoman for the health board acknowledged the problem had still not been addressed in line with Dr Lennon's recommendations. However, progress had been made on some other recommendations, including referring major surgery to Drogheda.
Dr Finan said he felt there was a real lack of urgency on the part of the health board in tackling this and other issues. Within days of it appointing an assistant chief executive, Mr Tadhg O'Brien, to look at short- and long-term solutions, he was transferred to work with the new Health Service Executive in Dublin.
"They took the one senior person who knew the situation out of the loop and put nobody in his place," Dr Finan said.
However, following a meeting between the hospital medical board and the health board CEO, Mr Paul Robinson, in recent days. it was agreed that Mr O'Brien would spend two days a week in the region trying to sort out the difficulties in the Cavan-Monaghan hospital group.
The Independent TD for the area, Mr Paudge Connolly, yesterday called for Monaghan General Hospital to be used for elective surgery until the Cavan difficulties were sorted out.