OUR LADY’S Hospital in Navan has been ordered to stop all keyhole surgery immediately following an internal audit.
This means that all laparoscopic general surgery to remove appendix and gallstones or to deal with hernias will no longer take place at the 172-bed hospital.
The order for all such surgery “to cease with immediate effect” was sent in writing to the hospital’s administrator by Margaret Swords, group general manager of the Louth/Meath Hospital Group on Friday last.
Sources say there was no prior consultation with staff at the hospital and claim no evidence has been produced to staff to show care had been suboptimal.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) said an ongoing clinical review at the hospital “has identified a number of concerns regarding the consistency of meeting the necessary standards regarding laparoscopic surgery.
“In order to ensure the best possible outcome for patients and in the interest of patient safety, the HSE, having taken expert clinical advice, has decided to cease all laparoscopic surgery taking place in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan”.
It added that hospital management was making arrangements for patients already scheduled for laparoscopic surgery at the hospital to undergo their surgery in other hospitals. “Patients affected are being contacted to advise them of the new arrangements,” it said.
It claimed only two to three patients per week on average would have undergone laparoscopic surgery in Navan for treatments such as hernia repair and the removal of gallstones.
Since 2006, following the publication of a report from Teamwork consultants, which recommended emergency surgery be immediately removed from the hospital, no major surgery is undertaken in Navan.
And since February this year, the practice whereby patients requiring major surgical intervention were taken by ambulance to Navan to be stabilised before transfer to another hospital ceased.
Complex trauma patients who require major surgical interventions are now taken directly by ambulance to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, or another appropriate hospital.
In April, the HSE tried to make all four surgeons at the hospital sign a document stating only certain types of surgery would be performed at the hospital.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) met the HSE to express concern about the policy and it has not been implemented to date.
Donal Duffy, assistant general secretary of the IHCA, said he would also be seeking to meet the HSE’s national director of quality and clinical care Dr Barry White about the latest order when he returns from annual leave.
A source close to the hospital said if it couldn’t do appendix operations in future it may as well not do surgery at all and suggested it could be the beginning of the end of the facility as an acute hospital.
However, the HSE stressed orthopaedic services including elective orthopaedic surgery, is not affected by the new directive and will continue as normal.