Family doctors in Cavan and Monaghan will meet the medical adviser to the North Eastern Health Board (NEHB) tonight to air their ongoing concerns about surgical services at Cavan General Hospital.
The GPs are concerned that surgery at Cavan hospital continues to be provided mainly by locum consultants since two of the hospital's three permanent surgeons were suspended a year ago over "interpersonal difficulties".
Monaghan GP Dr Illona Duffy said family doctors were noticing more problems among patients following surgery. "I brought this up with two Cavan GPs and they agreed with me that there is a problem," she said. Furthermore, the Cavan unit was so busy, elective surgery was having to be cancelled regularly.
Dr Duffy said some GPs, having lost faith in the Cavan unit, were now only referring patients in need of surgery to Drogheda or Dublin. Minor surgery is still carried out at Monaghan hospital.
In recent days, Dr Paddy Halligan, a GP in Bailieborough, Co Cavan, has written to colleagues in Cavan and Monaghan inviting them to a meeting in Cootehill, Co Cavan, tonight, to discuss their worries with Mr Finbarr Lennon, medical adviser to the NEHB, which runs the hospital.
Mr Lennon, who is a consultant surgeon at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, has, in the past, expressed concern to the NEHB about the fact that the Cavan surgery unit was being run by locums.
Dr Halligan, in his letter to GPs, wrote: "The surgical service in Cavan/Monaghan continues to pose difficulties for ourselves as GPs. Mr Finbarr Lennon ... has offered to meet with GPs to discuss the current and evolving situation.
"With this in mind, all GPs in the two counties are invited to meet with Mr Lennon on Thursday, September 16th, at 7.30 p.m. in the Errigal Country House Hotel, Cootehill, Co Cavan.
"This will be a meeting where anyone can contribute their concerns and it is important that we have a good representation of GPs on the night".
The Cavan surgical unit has come under intense scrutiny since the death in February of nine-year-old Frances Sheridan, three weeks after an appendix operation at the hospital. A post-mortem found she died from complications of recent surgery.
It emerged there had been 15 adverse clinical incidents at the unit between September and December 2003. A review of them by Dr Lennon found an absence of surgical leadership at the unit. He recommended all major surgery be transferred to Drogheda.
Earlier this month the Medical Council said the NEHB should be given funding to appoint three new permanent consultant surgeons to the Cavan-Monaghan hospital group, which would alleviate concerns about a lack of continuity of care for patients attending for surgery in Cavan.