Sir, – The real scandal at St Vincent’s University Hospital is the overwhelming increase in acutely unwell patient volume since the effective closure of St Colmcille’s Loughlinstown to out-of-hours admissions. The latter falls under the remit of HSE management, an oxymoron if ever there was one, and has led to a doubling of medical and surgical admissions to an already stretched but otherwise efficient and well-run public hospital.
Clinicians of all grades and disciplines are working flat out to cope with the increased demand. The end result is an unsustainable, overcrowded and unsafe mess with significant compromise in delivery of care. Patients are suffering and some will die. What public accounts committee will examine that? – Yours, etc,
Dr PAUL MacMULLAN,
Medical Registrar,
St Vincent’s University
Hospital,
Elm Park,
Dublin 4.