Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)

This afternoon I raised with the Minister for Health and Children a letter the consultants in Cavan and Monaghan sent to management flagging the difficulties imminent within the service. I was shocked today when the Minister told me a bed was available for Pat Joe Walsh in Cavan but that it was not made known to staff at Monaghan General Hospital. What makes this more difficult is the fact this issue was flagged.

I would like to explain the manner in which it was flagged. The letter sent by the consultants stated:

We, the undersigned consultant surgeons met at a joint Department of Surgery of Cavan and Monaghan Hospitals on Thursday 8th September '05 in Cavan General Hospital and unanimously decided that Monaghan General Hospital should go back on call for acute surgical emergencies. This is following an unprecedented number ... of patients waiting for treatment on trolleys in Cavan A&E Department and we would be grateful if you could arrange for adequate resources including hiring of theatre nurses in Monaghan General Hospital for evening and night duties and meetings with the regional ambulance control to ensure there is no delay about Monaghan going back on call for acute surgical services.

That letter clearly states that there is a major problem. All the consultants in Cavan and Monaghan have outlined that the system they are expected to operate is unsafe, not workable and is costing lives. Worse than that, it will cost lives in the future and it is not a matter of if but when these lives will be lost. To date, 16 people have lost their lives in Monaghan General Hospital as a result in the change in services. This requires an urgent remedy.

It brings health care to a whole new dimension to think surgeons must flag a difficulty. The configuration of services devised by the steering group of chief executive officers was brought in to ensure safe services. These consultants who are asked to deliver the service are the experts and they have told us it is not safe and what they are expected to do is not good. However, we still read about patients on trolleys in Cavan General Hospital. They simply cannot cope with the level of demand for services in Cavan and Monaghan general hospitals.

The letter sent by the consultants was dated 15 September, yet no action was taken on foot of it. This is unacceptable. If something had been done, a death such as Pat Joe Walsh's could have been avoided. I call on the Health Service Executive to take action.

There is a new six-day accident and emergency unit at Monaghan General Hospital but resources have not been provided to open it fully and to make it operational. It is state-of-the-art with facilities to deal with infectious disease and so on in that it has positive-negative air ventilation systems. We hear there is no lack of resources but management will say it has not been allocated additional resources to open and increase the six-day accident and emergency unit at Monaghan General Hospital.

The consultants hit the core of the issue as well and have called for adequate resources, including the hiring of theatre nurses. It beggars belief that this issue has been ignored. Today I felt the Minister hid behind the fact the steering group report stated that this is the level of service we should have. In September 2001 the then chief executive issued what he called a configuration of health services. He made numerous attempts to get people to agree to and endorse what he considered an adequate service for the hospital. The consultants in Cavan and Monaghan have tried this system for a period but it is not working and is unsafe. Safety was allegedly what drove this. Responsibility lies with the Department. When something is not working, the Minister must take a hands-on approach and demand answers.

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