Concern over anaesthetist availability

THE availability of consultant anaesthetists who can be on site quickly during out-of-hours for emergency resuscitations of in-patients, has been raised by GPs and staff at Ennis hospital.

West Clare GP, Dr Billy O’Connell claimed there are nights when the hospital is covered by a consultant anaesthetist based in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, which is unacceptable practice and is not an acute medicine concept.
Dr O’Connell explained there is cover from 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday and on some nights, Ennis is covered by a consultant on call.
However, since the start of this month, he claims there has been a reduction in local cover as part of the threatened removal of the high dependency unit and coronary care unit from Ennis to Limerick.
He claimed that at times, a consultant anaesthetist in the region could be working up to 90 hours a week between work and on-call, which is also an issue of concern.
Speaking to The Clare Champion, he outlined there are only two resident physicians covering Ennis, where there should be four.
He said it can take up to 24 hours to properly assess a medical patient in hospital and sometimes the patients who seem fairly well can deteriorate in a very short space of time, which further illustrates the importance of having a local anaesthetist for vital resuscitation.
The HSE West had not responded to these claims at the time of going to press on Wednesday evening.
Concern was expressed at a public meeting organised by concerned nurses, held in the West County Hotel, Ennis last Friday, that Ennis hospital could be left with a minor nurse-led injury clinic similar to Monaghan General Hospital if the HDU and anaesthetic cover is removed.
Clinical nurse manager, Marie O’Brien warned the remove of the HDU and other services would have an impact on patients, who have been successfully treated for medical problems in Ennis for years.
Ms O’Brien told the meeting that staff were told high technology monitors in the acute unit are also due to be removed from Ennis and recalled the first one of these was funded by the Lions Club and Ennis people. She claimed cardiology consultant Dr Terry Hennessy is also due to be transferred to Limerick.
“Are we going to export patients to Limerick, Galway and the Midlands? Our colleagues there are under pressure for beds and trolleys, staff are working short [staffed] and there is a staff embargo. We can’t recruit any staff,” she said.