Medical Council team to inspect Cavan hospital

A Medical Council team will inspect facilities at the troubled Cavan General Hospital today.

A Medical Council team will inspect facilities at the troubled Cavan General Hospital today.

The council sought the visit more than a week ago after it studied the recently published report into the death of nine-year-old Frances Sheridan.

The girl died 36 hours after she was sent home from the hospital with an obstructed bowel which went undiagnosed in the hospital's accident and emergency unit.

Junior doctors there believed the girl, who underwent an appendix operation at the hospital three weeks earlier, had a stomach bug.

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Medical Council president Dr John Hillery asked the North Eastern Health Board to facilitate the visit, saying the council was concerned about "patient safety issues" following its examination of the health board's report into the child's death.

He said a delegation from the council visited the hospital before in 2001 and made recommendations.

It was given assurances that their recommendations were going to be followed and it now wished to establish if this had happened.

The Irish Times has already reported, however, that the health board failed to address adequately two key causes for concern pinpointed by the council in 2001.

The report of the council's inspection found medical staff were excluded from any meaningful role in the management of the hospital which the council said was "inappropriate".

Sources close to the hospital claim doctors still have no meaningful role in management.

It also warned that without continuity of staff and responsibility in the hospital's A&E unit, it was difficult to see how policies or practices which were "in the best interests of the management of emergencies" could evolve.

It recommended the appointment of an A&E consultant which the health board did not appoint until 2003.