Fears for future of Navan A&E and ICU raised in Dail

The Save Navan Hospital Campaign has warned it will roll out a serious campaign of resistance to any attempts to close A&E from 8pm to 8am and to axe the hospital's Intensive Care Unit.

The chair of the campaign, Deputy Peadar Toibin, who raised the issue in the Dail yesterday vowed to fight the proposals, warning the proposal is dangerous.

Meanwhile, Dr Ruairi Hanley, PRO of the campaign has called on his GP colleagues across Meath to cease all engagement with the HSE if this downgrading agenda, which he said “beggars belief” is being advanced.

Dr Hanley said the campaign had heard disturbing reports of HSE plans to reduce services at Our Lady’s Hospital.

“This proposal, if confirmed, beggars belief. Our health system is facing an extremely difficult winter with the ongoing threat of coronavirus and the annual flu season. Many hospitals are already under extreme pressure and the situation will get worse in the weeks ahead."

Deputy Toibin said he had been told that the ICU was closed last night, however, a spokesperson for the HSE said this was not the case and there would be no closure without informing the public.

Dr Hanley said “The HSE leadership has been hell bent on downgrading Navan hospital for years. In fact, if they had their way, the Intensive Care Unit would have been closed long prior to the Covid 19 pandemic. Instead, thanks to the efforts of the people of Meath, it remained open and undoubtedly saved many lives over the last 18 months.”

Dr Hanley said that thanks to decades of downgrading across Ireland, the health service faced the real threat of being overwhelmed when the pandemic struck in early 2020.

“Frankly, given recent events, the HSE should perhaps apologise to the many hospitals in Ireland that lost their acute medical and ICU facilities over the last 20 years.

“Instead, they now seem to be reverting to type and are once again targeting the one hospital they have failed to downgrade  - Navan.

“This is an appalling proposal that will endanger lives and seriously undermine urgent healthcare in the Northeast region

Dr Hanley said the HSE appears to believe that “meetings with stakeholders” may confer legitimacy “on their predetermined plans to undermine acute service at Our Lady’s Hospital.”

“They may rest assured that their plan will never be supported by the tens of thousands of people who have given their support to the Save Navan Hospital Campaign over many years.”

Urging his fellow GPs not to engage with the HSE, he  said Meath patients with pneumonia this winter “deserve better than to lie shivering in fear on a trolley in Drogheda or Dublin.”

“That is the reality of what will happen if any reduction in ED or ICU services is allowed to proceed.

“This incredibly dangerous proposal must be dropped immediately,” Dr Hanley concluded.

Deputy Toibin raised the matter with the Tanaiste, Leo Varadkar in the Dail yesterday. Deputy Varadkar said he wasn't aware of the plans, but didn't rule them out.

In a written Dail question, Deputy Toibin asked the Minister for Health if ICU beds were closed or taken out of use at Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan in the past six months; if so, when these ICU beds were closed or taken out of use; the reason for same; and the number of fatalities that occurred in the emergency department at the hospital in each month over the past year.

He was told that in 2013 Our Lady’s Hospital Navan was included in the list of designated Model 2 Hospitals under the Smaller Hospitals Frameworks. The role of smaller hospital's like Navan was managing routine, urgent or planned care locally and more complex care managed in the larger hospitals.

A written reply to Deputy Toibin said the Hospital Group is engaged in a programme of re-design work to further integrate and enhance the role of Navan Hospital within the Group and to ensure that it will provide more services safely and appropriately with better linkages to primary, continuing and social care.

“Proposed changes to any Emergency Department service will only take place in the context of overall service developments for both the hospital and Group.

“With specific reference to Our Lady’s Hospital Navan, it will include the development of a 24/7 Acute Medical Assessment Unit at Navan, an extended role for the hospital in areas such as delivery of day and ambulatory surgical activity to support the overall delivery of access to care targets for the Group, and strengthened links with the Mater in terms of clinical governance and patient safety. “Reconfiguration  will be undertaken in a planned and orderly manner on completion of the necessary planning. It is intended that the Hospital Group will continue to engage closely with all interested parties to ensure that the needs of patients, staff, the local and wider community are addressed.”