A report on how standards should be restored at Cavan General Hospital has been released tonight. The report was commissioned after concerns rose about the clinical management of a number of cases at the hospital between September and December 2003.
The Medical Adviser to the North Eastern Health Board Mr. Finbar Lennon was asked to review 15 cases as a result of concerns raised when seven of these patients died within 30 days of surgery. Four others developed serious post-operative complications.
Mr Lennon said each of these cases posed difficult and complex clinical management problems adding that surgical service in Cavan was currently under intense scrutiny.
He added that as the hospital was a very difficult environment in which to work, he said it was understandable that the surgeons were anxious and under pressure.
Mr Lennon said the hospital's responsibility was to ensure that patient care was being safely delivered and he made a number of recommendations intended to alleviate the situation.
He recommended an end to gastro-intestinal surgery for patients who may require ICU support. He also recommended an increase in elective surgery. He said emergency on-call surgical services should continue to be provided, and that radiological support for patients should be requested and sourced from colleagues within the region.
Management, Mr Lennon said, should provide the necessary additional resources and support to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and to the interventional radiologists in the Louth/Meath Hospital Group to cope with the current temporary situation.
Mr. Lennon discussed his recommendations at a meeting in Cavan General Hospital yesterday with the consultant surgeons, the chairman and secretary of the Medical Board in Cavan Hospital, and the General Manager of the hospital.
Following this meeting Mr Lennon said he was confident that the current difficulties in delivering surgical services at Cavan can be overcome quickly.
Meanwhile, the North Eastern Health Board has proposed to set up a process whereby the next of kin of any of the cases reviewed who have concerns about their at Cavan Hospital will be offered an independent review of their care and treatment.
The situation will be reviewed by all parties in four weeks.
