Hospital campaigners to meet Minister

Navan's A&E is facing its biggest threat yet, according to Save Navan Hospital Campaign chair, Peadar Tóibín who has been asked by the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly to meet with him and senior HSE staff in relation to the future of the hospital.

Speaking in advance of that meeting Deputy Tóibín called on all the elected representatives in Co Meath to act.

“I believe that it would be treacherous for any TD in the county to allow this (A&E closure) to happen. We in the Save Navan Hospital Campaign will fight this tooth and nail.

“Hundreds of people are on trolleys every day. ICU beds are still as rare as hen's teeth. There are one million people on hospital waiting lists throughout the state and Covid is still in circulation.

“It is shocking that the HSE and the Government would seek to close an A&E and ICU in this circumstances.

"This is the biggest threat yet to our A&E. Its clear that the government seek to move now on its closure.

"The A&E is the most important piece of Infrastructure in the county. It has been the difference between life and death for so many people in Meath. In 2013 our A&E was included in the HIQA hit list of  A&Es the government sought to close. All the others were closed on that list. Our A&E is the last one standing of those targeted by the government".

"However, it is still written within the Smaller Hospital Framework document that our A&E must close. This is government policy and it the HSE are seeking implement government policy. Just before Covid the government sought to close the A&E again however due to the pressure on hospitals it remained open".

"Then again last September the government made another effort to close it. We in the Save Navan Hospital Campaign took 10,000 people onto the streets of Navan which forced the government to “pause” the closure. Luckily, as another wave of Covid kicked off soon after leading to pressure on hospital and ICU beds".

“The background to all of this is people are often waiting 11 hours in the A&E in Drogheda hospital to be seen. Staff in Connolly Hospital were out on protest at conditions and pressure in their A&E a number of months ago.

"The HSE argument is that there is safety issues in relation to our A&E. Firstly any safety concerns would be fixed if the HSE invested in the necessary Consultant cover. Secondly I have spoken to senior medical clinicians in the RCSI group and they have said that it would be a threat to health and life if Navan A&E closes. They have said that neither Connolly nor Drogheda can take tens of thousands of extra patients".

“Thirdly I have researched the number of “adverse incidents” that are happening in each hospital group. Incredibly there were 107,000 adverse incidents on all our hospitals last year. This is shocking and it’s a massive increase from 5 years ago. But the HSE wants to close our A&E and push our patients to the RCSI group which had the highest increase in the number of adverse incidents of any group over the last 5 years. They want to push us into a hospital group that’s doing far worse in terms of protecting patients”.

A spokesperson for the Irish East Hospital Group said any proposed changes to the Accident and Emergency Department in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan will only be undertaken in a planned and orderly manner, involving engagement with all the relevant stakeholders.