Time to fight back for hospital

On 10th August, the HSE ordered the cessation of all laparoscopic surgery in Our Lady's Hospital in the interests of "patient safety". Within a week, 47 local general practitioners (GPs) had signed a letter of protest at this appalling decision. It now appears obvious that the HSE are determined to destroy any surgical service in Navan. This systematic and deliberate undermining of a good local hospital is not unique to County Meath. A similar strategy has been employed over the past few years in Monaghan, Dundalk and Mallow. Unfortunately for the HSE, Our Lady's Hospital has proven to be a tougher nut to crack. Many of its medical staff, supported by local GPs, are fighting back and refusing to accept that their hospital is somehow unsafe for patients, who would supposedly be better off lying on trolleys in Drogheda. Needless to say this hasn't gone down well with the authorities. Their righteous propaganda about "patient safety" has been publicly ridiculed by professionals who know a lot more about treating patients than any HSE desk jockey. Realising that doctors were not about to roll over on this one, the authorities have apparently decided to fight dirty. In March 2010, a consultant surgeon in Our Lady's was summarily suspended and ordered out of the hospital by management as part of an investigation into a number of operations performed by him, an action that managed to make news headlines on RTE. The reason given for this severe punishment was that the doctor in question was allegedly a danger to patients. No evidence was published to support this very serious accusation. In my experience, this surgeon is a skilled, gifted and competent colleague in whom I have the utmost confidence. This is a view shared by GPs throughout the north east, over 50 of whom signed a letter of protest in the immediate aftermath of his suspension. It should also be noted that this consultant has also been a vocal and passionate supporter for the retention of acute surgical services in Navan. There is a genuine fear among doctors that this colleague was deliberately targeted and victimised for the 'crime' of standing up for Navan hospital. Naturally, this is denied by the HSE, who are nonetheless completely incapable of providing any evidence to explain why an honourable professional was publicly humiliated and threatened by the authorities. Having blackened a good man's name and publicly damaged the reputation of Navan hospital, the HSE decided in early June to quietly lift the suspension. To date, no explanation has been given for this appalling sequence of events. Not surprisingly, when the surgeon was re-instated, the announcement was not deemed worthy of RTE news headlines. The HSE did not wait long before attacking the surgical department again. They allowed two months to pass before announcing the immediate cessation of laparoscopic surgery in Navan. Once again "patient safety" was cited, and once again no convincing evidence was provided to support this. Naturally, the authorities made no effort whatsoever to discuss this decision in advance with local GPs. This was presumably because if they had, they would possibly have discovered that my colleagues and I have full confidence in Our Lady's Hospital and are happy to send our patients there for laparoscopic surgery. There is a very simple way of discovering the truth in this case. All surgeons are required to keep records known as "audits" of patient outcomes following operations. These statistics can be published and compared to other hospitals around Ireland to see if our local hospital is up to the necessary standard. I believe that such work has already been done by the surgeons in Our Lady's and that their results are excellent. Assuming this information to be correct, then the outcomes for patients undergoing laparoscopic procedures in Navan are as good, if not better, than anywhere in the country. Naturally, the HSE have not acknowledged any of this. To do so would be to effectively admit that their allegations with regard to "patient safety" are not supported by the facts. I therefore challenge the authorities to publish the audited results for laparoscopic surgery in Navan over the past few years, which I believe will speak for themselves. If they fail to do so, I believe their motives must be called into question. In my opinion, the actions of the HSE are misleading, manipulative and highly damaging to patients. It appears they have sought to undermine public confidence in a good hospital and damage the reputations of competent doctors. I fear this may be nothing more than an attempt to "soften up" local resistance to their ultimate plan - to downgrade Our Lady's, Navan, and force sick people to endure trolley based misery in Drogheda. Negative publicity is the only language that the faceless bureaucrats who run our health system understand and fear. It is time to fight back. Dr Ruairi Hanley is a GP based in Navan.