Terms of reference of review of services at Navan Hospital published
Terms of reference of review of services at Navan Hospital has been released today.
The Board approved a recommendation of the Executive to establish a review to undertake a fresh look to ensure capacity is in place to meet the additional demands that a proposed reconfiguration may place on services in effective locations.
A working group was set up by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to fully consider HSE plans to downgrade the hospital's A&E services, amid fierce opposition locally.
According to the report, The National Clinical Lead for Acute Hospitals Dr Mike O’Connor and the National Director for Acute Operations Liam Woods will lead a process to provide assurance in relation to the planned reconfiguration of services at Our Lady’s Hospital Navan and to ensure that patient safety and quality assurance are central to any agreed changes. This process is expected to be completed within a few weeks.
The working group set up to review services at Our Lady's hospital in Navan has been tasked with identifying additional capacity to be put in place in advance of any reconfiguration.
There are 18 members of the working group, which include the hospital's Clinical Director, Gerry McEntee, the Clinical Director of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Ian Counihan, and Chair of NEDOC, Seamus McMenamin.
The process will include the following:
● A rapid review to assess the reconfiguration plan for Our Lady’s Hospital Navan
● Recommendation of any additional capacity needed in advance of the transition of any activity from
Our Lady’s Hospital Navan ED.
● Recommendation of any additional capacity necessary for ambulance services to meet additional
demands resulting from the proposed reconfiguration.
● Confirmation that clear pathways and sufficient staffing, at hospital and primary care level, are in place to ensure that there would be no diminution of services. This should include the GP Out-ofHours Service and the medical assessment unit.
● Design of the necessary referral pathways in Primary Care, including GP out of hours service.
● Overseeing the development and establishment of a monitoring framework to support the safe and effective reconfiguration of services at Our Lady’s Hospital Navan
● Harnessing learning from previous reconfiguration of acute services to enable the development of a comprehensive, safe, effective and efficient plan to support the project.
Sinn Fein TDs for Meath West, Johnny Guirke, and Meath East, Darren O’Rourke, have criticised the wording of the terms of reference released by the Ireland East Hospital Group relating to Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan.
Teachta Guirke said:
“I am absolutely shocked that the terms of reference do not state where they will invest, enhance and protect our services at Navan Hospital.
“Though a working group has now been established, it seems that it is only in place to ensure the planned reconfiguration of services at Navan Hospital will take place.
“Our hospitals are under immense pressure now, staff are overworked and leaving the country.
“A&E waiting times are at their highest in years. Moving patients from Navan to Drogheda will not improve times, it will just make things worse.
“We have three sitting government ministers in County Meath - Thomas Byrne, Helen McEntee, and Damien English - all of whom have played hopscotch when it comes to the future of Our Lady's Hospital.
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have shamefully allowed no consideration of keeping our A&E open.”
Teachta O’Rourke said:
“The terms of reference are the final curtain call on the closure of Navan A&E.
“We have seen nothing in this press release to commit to keeping our A&E open, no commitment to putting services in place, only identifying them, and it falls short of committing to putting these in place before their planned reconfiguration.
“The whole process by the HSE and the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has been wholly unsatisfactory in relation to how they approached the closure of Navan A&E.
“It will take a spectacular challenge by the HSE to deliver more bed capacity and more staff for our hospital and ambulance services while trying to address long waiting times.
“Instead of being railroaded into removing necessary services, we need to see an urgent plan to invest, enhance and address any safety concerns at Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan.”