Senator calls for end to ‘scaremongering’ on Portlaoise emergency department

Labour Senator John Whelan has called on the Minister for Health and the head of the HSE to make a statement on the future of the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.

He was responding to the findings of a HSE review, reported yesterday in The Irish Times, which recommended the closure of the emergency department at the hospital.

Mr Whelan, who is from Portlaoise, said it was time for statements to end the “scaremongering” on services and the status of the hospital. The ongoing speculation was unfair to staff and the public, he said.

Local Fine Gael TD, Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan, said he had been told by the HSE there were no plans to close the emergency department at Portlaoise.

The review, which has not been published, said the current 24/7 emergency department should be replaced by a medical assessment unit and local injury unit operating during the day. Surgical services should also be discontinued but other, less complex services, such as endoscopy and day procedures, could be developed.

The review was commissioned following the deaths of at least five babies in the hospital’s maternity unit in recent years.

Maternity services

Last February, another report, by

Department of Health

chief medical officer Dr

Tony Holohan

, found maternity services at Portlaoise could not be regarded as safe and sustainable under current governance arrangements.

The HSE appointed a team of medical specialists led by its then national director of acute hospitals, Ian Carter, to review medical, surgical and emergency services at the hospital.

Its report, dated March 2014, says the 24/7 emergency service at Portlaoise is “not clinically sustainable” and warns of a collapse in care processes and risks to patient care arising from the “many internal medical challenges” at the hospital.

Despite concerns raised in the review about the safety of services, the HSE said this week that there was no threat to existing facilities at the hospital. A spokesman said there were no plans to reduce emergency cover. Several measures, including the appointment of extra staff, had been implemented, he said.

Hiqa concerns

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) told former Minister for Health

James Reilly

in March it shared Dr Holohan’s concerns about the hospital, according to documents obtained by

The Irish Times

under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Hiqa board approved an investigation into the hospital “in recognition of the reasonable grounds to believe there is a serious risk to the health or welfare” of patients, chairman Brian McEnery wrote in the letter to Dr Reilly.

The investigation would include an assessment of the “patient safety culture” in Portlaoise, he said. The Hiqa investigation is expected to be completed shortly.

Portlaoise is one of five hospital emergency departments where services could be curtailed if the Government makes severe cuts to the health budget, under proposals submitted by the Department of Health to the Department of Public Expenditure.