Ambulance brought man who fell beside Navan hospital to Drogheda

An elderly man who suffered a serious fall in Navan on Friday was taken by ambulance to Drogheda, but 24 hours later was sent back to Navan without receiving any treatment.

Chair of the Save Navan Hospital Campaign Peadar Tóibín said it was an incredible case of Emergency Department chaos.

“I have been told incredible information about an elderly patient who suffered a serious fall on Friday night less than 250 metres from Navan A&E. The patient does not want his identity disclosed.

“An 82 year-old man fell in a nursing home at 7pm on Friday evening last. An ambulance was called for and one had to come all the way from Dublin to pick him up. The family requested that the elderly man be brought next door to Navan A&E. The ambulance drivers refused to do this, indicating that they have been told not to bring the patient to Navan A&E but to bring him to Drogheda. Even when the family protested this, the ambulance drivers insisted on Drogheda and said that their jobs depended on it. This despite the road is closed between Navan and Drogheda. The ambulance had to travel for miles and miles on diverted country roads to get to Drogheda”.

“The patient did not arrive to Drogheda until 11pm on Friday. His sister, who is 80- years-old, had to drive from Navan to Drogheda on these same diverted country roads. Because of the overcrowding in Drogheda the man was not seen for hours. His sister had to sit with him as he was agitated. Nurses in Drogheda took bloods then decided to do a scan at 8am in the morning. This did not happen in the end as the patient was too agitated and the medics said he wasn’t still enough for the scan. The staff in Drogheda then called an ambulance to take the patient back to Navan.

“This ambulance did not arrive at Drogheda to collect the man until 8pm on Saturday evening, over 24 hours after the accident happened. He was left lying on a trolley all that time”.

“This begs the question, is the HSE already reducing patient access to Navan by diverting ambulances away from Navan A&E, even from its own door step? Why are they doing it when the road between the two towns is closed. Why are they sending a patient to a far longer waiting time in Drogheda than dealing with them in Navan? What was the cost, as the ambulance was out of service in helping others for a far longer period. The Minister must answer these life and death questions”.

A spokesperson for the Ireland East Hospital Group said that they cannot comment on individual cases.

She said there is no curtailment in services to patient to Our Lady’s Hospital Navan. The hospital is bypassed for cases involving trauma, heart attack and strokes, which has been the case for a number of years.