McEntee: 'It's about the people of Meath having the best services possible'

The Minister for Justice and Meath East TD has said invoking Section 10 of the Health Act which would allow the Health Minister stop an plans to close Navan's Emergency Department was a matter Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and refuted claims she was playing 'parish pump' politics over the Navan's emergency services - an accusation levelled at her by a national newspaper this week.

Minister McEntee said her sole concern was the safe treatment of her constituents and people of Meath.

Speaking on RTE's Prime Time last night, the Minister said the long-running saga over Navan's emergency department and services was "not political for me."

"I have to stress that, I have always said that this was about the people in Meath, the county I live in, my family live in, that we have the best services possible. I don't dispute what is being said to me and the clinical evidence being presented to me that there are 1,700 to 2,000 patients that could access and get better care.

"I don't dispute the fact that there are other clinicians out there who suggest that if you were to close Navan A&E without the additional capacity, you are putting people at risk in a different way.

Presenter Sarah McInerney said: "The HSE has said there will be an additional 44 beds in Drogheda where patients will go, that there will be an additional staff, two additional ICU beds to compensate and that 80% of the people who would use the Navan ED will still be able to go there under the new medical assessment unit. Do you just not believe the HSE when the say all of that?"

Helen McEntee: "It's not that I don't believe anyone here. More beds have already been delivered but we know that Drogheda is already at capacity. We know that from speaking to staff at Drogheda that they do not have the capacity to deal with additional patients.

"We know that a 24-hour medical assessment unit needs GP's to transfer patients into that medical assessment unit and we currently have a group of GPs supporting that and group of GPs not supporting it, so I'm simply asking the question so that I am confident."

Last weekend HSE Boss Paul Reid, days before announcing his retirement, said the closure of Navan A&E is "going to proceed as planned unless the Minister for Health invokes Section 10 of the Health Act to force him to stop.

Minister McEntee was asked if the Minister for Health should invoke that act."

"Well, I think the Minister for Health has said very clearly that he himself is not confident in the resources that are required or that they are in place. He is basing that on the fact that we have seen in other jurisdictions where other smaller A&Es have closed where there hasn't been capacity put into the larger A&E's and where they are now struggling to deal with that extra capacity.

"That is absolutely a decision for the Minister for Health. He is essentially asking the same questions I have, is the capacity going to be there, I'm not in any way objecting to what medical individuals are saying, but simply asking is the capacity in the system to allow us deal with any type of a change."

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