Published: Wednesday, 1st September, 2010 5:56pm

Acute and emergency surgery at Navan hospital ended

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HSE Statement on Our Lady's Hospital, Navan

The Transformation Programme for the North East Region involves widespread and fundamental change to maximise clinical outcomes and ensure safe services for patients. As part of the reconfiguration of services in the Louth Meath Hospital Group it has always been planned to integrate the general surgery service at Our Lady's Hospital, Navan (OLH) into an expanded Louth Meath Group wide Department of Surgery.

The HSE has taken the decision that with immediate effect all acute/emergency surgery will cease at Our Lady's Hospital, Navan. The decision has been made in the interest of providing the highest quality of service to patients and following expert clinical advice.

The Emergency Department in Our Lady's Hospital Navan will continue to function on a twenty four hour basis with triage by Emergency Department, medical and nursing staff. Individuals presenting to the Emergency Department in Our Lady's Hospital requiring acute/emergency surgery will be transferred to another hospital in the Dublin North East region namely; Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda, Mater, Beaumont and Connolly Hospitals Dublin and Cavan General Hospital. In this respect a standard operating protocol has been developed between the Emergency Department in Our Lady's Hospital Navan , the North East Ambulance Service and these hospitals to ensure the safe transfer of patients : This is an interim arrangement until appropriate capacity is made available in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.

Patients requiring non urgent surgical procedures will be referred to Out Patient, Day Case or In- Patient Surgical Services as appropriate.

On average, Our Ladys Hospital Navan deals with four emergency surgical admissions per day, with one of these requiring a surgical intervention within a 24 hour period.

Patients requiring acute medical treatment for conditions such as stroke, cardiac arrest, diabetes will continue to be admitted to Our Lady's Hospital Navan.

Orthopaedic Services including elective orthopaedic surgery will also continue as normal in the hospital, which is the Regional Elective Orthopaedic Centre for the North East Region.

GPs are being advised of these changes and of referral options for their patients to other hospitals in the Dublin North East region, particularly patients requiring urgent surgical assessment. Patients requiring rapid access to Out Patients or Day Surgery will to be facilitated in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda or Louth County Hospital Dundalk.

Since 2006 no major surgery has been undertaken at Our Lady's Hospital, Navan. Since February, 2010 the practice whereby patients requiring major surgical intervention were taken by ambulance to Our Lady's Hospital in Navan, to be stabilised and transferred to another hospital ceased. Complex trauma patients who require major surgical interventions are now taken directly by ambulance to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda or another appropriate hospital

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