Consultants in Our Lady Our Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda say that patients will die if they’re diverted to the hospital from Navan and further areas in County Meath.
They say that they’re already under major pressure serving County Louth and that the hospital will not be able to cope with the extra number of patients would have to service if Navan was to be included in its remit.
The HSE said that critically ill patients will no longer be taken by ambulance to Our Lady’s Hospital Navan (OLHN) from mid-December.
The long-awaited decision was communicated yesterday to all hospital staff, in an internal note.
The letter, seen by Independent.ie, says Health Minister Stephen Donnelly wrote to the HSE board “indicating” that phase one of the OLHN’s “transformation” should start from 12 December.
“This means that from this date, unstable and critically ill patients (including abdominal pains) will no longer be brought to OLHN’s Emergency Department (ED) by ambulance. Those patients will instead be brought to an appropriate level 3 or 4 hospital where they will be provided with the best chance of survival.” the letter states, reports Independemt.
The memo says the decision represents a “partial bypass” of the hospital’s emergency department and that the National Ambulance Service will continue to bring “less sick” patients to OLHN.
The letter also confirmed that Minister Donnelly has yet to approve phase two of the hospital’s transformation, which will reconfigure the emergency department into a 24-hour medical assessment unit (MAU).
The letter says that with the changes, the hospital will “treating more patients, not fewer and in a safer environment. It is important to convey to you that no employed staff members will lose their jobs and there will be no involuntary redeployment of staff to other hospitals or healthcare organisations,” reports Independent.
It also confirmed that hospital representatives will initiate a “user group engagement” process in the coming weeks and staff will have the opportunity to discuss the planned changes and their implementation.
In July, thousands protested against the proposed reconfiguration of the hospital. The march was led by the Save Navan Hospital Group, chaired by the local Aontú TD Peadar Tóibín.
The HSE have signaled their intention at this time to transfer a number of critically ill patients per day to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.
Speaking in the Dáil on Tuesday, Tóibín MP condemned the changes outlined in the memo to OLHN staff.
“This is a scandalise situation, that it would happen in the middle of a winter surge, when hundreds of thousands of people have been on trolleys in the State over the last year,” he said, reports Independent.
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