Dublin People - Fury over cutbacks at Connolly Hospital

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Fury over cutbacks at Connolly Hospital

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

PROCEDURES used to detect serious illnesses such as bowel cancer will be cancelled at Connolly Hospital from this month until October in an effort to tackle overspending.
The cutbacks follow the closure of 33 clinics for two weeks over the past month.
The new cost cutting measures will result in the cancellation of all in-patient and day procedures for six weeks.
However, the HSE claim the cutbacks won’t put any patients at risk as procedures deemed to be urgent will still go ahead.
According to an internal memorandum seen by Northside People from the hospital’s management to all heads of departments, “there is a need to implement a number of measures to bring the projected over-spend back in line with allocated budget.
“In this regard a decision has been taken by the Hospital Executive to cancel all elective work (in-patient and day cases) from August 18 to September 30 inclusive.
“The Day Ward will be closed for the duration and one room only will be assigned for emergency Endoscopies.”
However, it was also stated that cancer patients and other urgent electives will not be affected.
Consultants and the hospital’s bed manager will determine which patients are urgent, according to the memo.
The Blanchardstown hospital is severely in the red with a projected budget overspend of e3 million.
“Activity levels have increased in all areas and there is a need to reduce some of the levels in order to bring activity back in line with the 2006 out-turn, which is the target that has been set in the 2008 service plan,” the memo also revealed.
According to local TD and practicing GP, Leo Varadkar (FG), there is a “real risk that serious illnesses will go undetected for several more weeks” because of the cancellations.
“Important procedures such as gall-bladder surgery, hip replacements and hernia repair operations will be delayed,” he told Northside People.
“Investigations requested by GPs to detect bowel and stomach cancers, Crohn’s and Coeliac Disease will be pushed back, reducing the likelihood of early diagnosis and intervention.”
Deputy Varadkar added: “It’s not fair that patients will have to wait until October at the earliest before they can get some peace of mind on their health.
“The fact that the hospital is being forced to cut back services to 2006 levels represents a callous disregard for the people’s health.”
Union spokesperson Phil McFadden of IMPACT described the cancellation of the procedures over the coming months as “despicable”.
“The HSE said the cutbacks would not interfere with patient care but they clearly do,” he told Northside People.
“Patients have been waiting long enough for appointments and now they are being told to wait until October.
“This also puts a lot of stress and strain on staff.”
According to Mr McFadden, morale at the hospital is at a low ebb.
“The staff are over worked, under pressure and working on the frontline at a time when there is so much frustration and chaos,” he explained.
However, the HSE said the closures weren’t unusual as many hospitals around the country scale back elective procedures during the summer “in line with consultants’ annual leave and patient preferences”.
The HSE also contradicted suggestions in the internal memo that activity levels were being reduced to levels of two years ago.
“There have been no ward or bed closures at the hospital and the hospital is not reducing activity to 2006 levels,” a statement issued to Northside People reads.
“It is delivering services in line with service plan commitments and working to ensure that the hospital remains within budget by the end of the year.”
The HSE say Connolly Hospital has been experiencing sustained pressures in its emergency department during the summer months but argued that the cutbacks would help ease the pressure.
“This is due to the complexity of patients presenting and this has resulted in longer wait times,” a spokesperson said.
“The management of elective activity in line with service plan levels will help alleviate these pressures and ensure that emergency patients are managed safely.”
A spokesperson for the hospital said: "Activity at the hospital has increased significantly in the last year.
“Already this year we are 12 per cent ahead of our service plan targets in our day cases and up three per cent on in-patient activity in Connolly Hospital.”
The hospital has emphasised that urgent elective cases and cancer cases will not be affected and these cases will continue to be prioritised and scheduled.
Urgent endoscopy procedures will also continue.
“Connolly Hospital wishes to point out that it does not have a long public waiting list and the majority of the active waiting list is in the 0-3 months category.
“The measures will be kept under continuous review from a service and risk perspective. We remain committed to minimising the effect on our patients.”

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