The investigation into the death of a baby girl, whose mother was turned away from Monaghan General Hospital, will be completed within seven days, the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, has said, write Mark Hennessy and Dr Muiris Houston
Facing criticism, the Minister last evening rejected charges by the Opposition and the local hospital action group that the tragedy was caused by a lack of Government investment in the hospital.
Expressing his sympathy, Mr Martin said the mother, Ms Denise Livingstone, had been seen in the hospital by a senior house doctor, before she was transferred at 5.30 a.m. for a 35-minute journey to Cavan General Hospital.
North Eastern Health Board (NEHB) officials have already taken witness statements from a number of staff on duty and the two ambulancemen involved.
The NEHB report will be evaluated by an independent team, comprising Mr Sean Daly, the master of the Coombe, Ms Maureen Lynott, the head of the Treatment Purchase Fund, and an as yet unnamed midwifery expert.
"They will be able to go back and investigate gaps and deficiencies in the report. I would be anxious to have the whole process completed by the end of next week," the Minister told The Irish Times. He insisted that strict rules were in place in Monaghan to ensure that emergency patients are examined and their condition stabilised, before being transferred to other larger hospitals.
"I agree it is unacceptable that a person would not receive emergency treatment," he told the Dáil.
He said he also found it "disturbing" that Ms Livingstone was not accompanied in the ambulance by a nurse or doctor - even though the ambulancemen were trained to deal with emergency deliveries.
During a meeting with Mr Martin yesterday, the NEHB chief executive, Mr Paul Robinson, insisted that the health board had never promised to provide a specialist maternity ambulance for Monaghan. Under proposals made in September, the hospital could have 24-hour, seven-day cover, elective surgery from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and an emergency treatment room from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. if all sides would agree.
The Minister said he had provided the money to pay for all of the promised consultants' positions.
Such appointments are finally handled by Comhairle na nOspidéal, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Royal College of Anaesthetists, he told Fine Gael Cavan-Monaghan TD Mr Seymour Crawford.
"These groups have a statutory remit to make recommendations and we must work with them. I have worked with them to make sure that we get pragmatic solutions to problems like this." Rejecting charges that Monaghan is idle, the Minister said 70 per cent of its beds are usually occupied.
Meanwhile, it emerged that a deal was reached yesterday with the Royal College of Surgeons on the issue. The Minister insisted that Monaghan would have full junior doctor cover from January 1st, despite fears to the contrary.
However, Dr Illona Duffy, a Monaghan GP and hospital campaigner, predicted yesterday that "the next step in this saga is that we will lose acute medical services in Monaghan Hospital".
She said yesterday that the loss of anaesthetic cover would prompt the Royal College of Physicians to withdraw training accreditation from the hospital, with the result that non-consultant doctors training in general medicine would no longer be employable there.
A 24-hour acute medical service would not be sustainable without them, she said. Medical sources say from January 1st, the only surgery at Monaghan will be planned operating theatre admissions between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.