Letters

Navan hospital’s intensive-care unit under threat

A dangerous plan

Tue Jan 03 2023 - 00:07

Sir, – Prof Patrick Broe (Letters, December 19th), apparently on the basis of one remark by a Siptu official, suggests that Navan hospital campaigners are seeking a major trauma unit for their local emergency department.

I have been a member, supporter and previously public relations officer of the Save Navan Hospital (SNH) campaign for over 10 years.

Throughout that time SNH has never sought to have trauma services located in the existing hospital. Furthermore, a longstanding trauma bypass protocol has been in place for Navan, thus there is no debate surrounding major “industrial accidents”.

However, and far more importantly, Navan continues to provide an acute medical emergency department (ED) with vital ICU support on site. This service has saved many lives and proved its worth yet again during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Regrettably, the HSE continue to demand the closure of the ICU and the effective downgrading of Navan’s emergency department. The consequences will be devastating for Meath patients, as pointed out recently by 17 consultants in Drogheda who informed the Minister for Health that people may die if these proposals are implemented.

Given the current crisis in our health system, it beggars belief that the HSE would continue to pursue such a dangerous plan rather than place additional resources into Navan to support its existing ED and ICU.

I would suggest to Prof Broe that these issues are more relevant to the people of Meath than an argument against a non-existent Navan trauma service that the hospital campaign does not seek to create.

I can also assure him that SNH members are well aware of the importance of clinical safety and will never cease in their efforts to save seriously ill medical patients from dying on Drogheda trolleys. – Yours, etc,

Dr RUAIRI HANLEY,

Navan,

Co Meath.