Minister defends emergency unit bypass

A CANCER survivor has criticised Health Minister Dr James Reilly for bypassing patients on trolleys at the emergency department of the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis before he made the short trip to unveil the new €9 million 50-bed state-of-the-art wing on Monday morning.

In an interview with The Clare Champion, Minister Reilly explained he didn’t have the opportunity to visit the emergency department as his schedule was very tight.

Tony Murray, 66, Ros an Óir, Ennis, said he asked a staff member to request the presence of Minister Reilly to talk to him about why a request for a brain scan was mistakenly cancelled after he was admitted to the emergency department as a result of a blackout on Sunday night.

The following morning, a different senior doctor was shocked to learn that the scan hadn’t taken place.

The scan was subsequently provided on Tuesday, after further information was sought about his family history and he was discharged later that evening.

Mr Murray, a retired cabinetmaker, was very concerned about the lack of diagnostic tests, as he didn’t know whether he had some form of heart attack or brain-related attack.

He survived non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 1998 and now has 11 stents in his heart. Two of his brothers, Dermot, 45, and Paddy, 27, died as a result of a brain haemorrhage and tumour respectively.

“There is no point in having a new modern building in the hospital if patients don’t have services. Why didn’t Minister Reilly walk through the emergency department and see what was really happening in the hospital before he cut the ribbon unveiling the new wing?” he asked.

His biggest bone of contention was the fact that Minister Reilly walked past the emergency department and didn’t have a look at a place where there were apparently a number of patients on trolleys.

Defending Minister Reilly’s non-attendance at the emergency department, a HSE spokesman explained in the space of an hour it wasn’t possible to visit every department, after opening the new 50-bed unit, viewing the endoscopy unit, recently approved for bowel cancer screening for Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary, and looking at the award-winning tele-radiology project.

“The minister ran over the allotted time in order to meet hospital staff, patients and the media, before leaving to attend other functions in Carrigoran and Clarecastle. It is never possible to accommodate all requests on the day,” a HSE spokesman explained.

Minister Reilly, in an interview, said he didn’t have an opportunity to visit the emergency department, as his schedule was very tight.

“I was very impressed with the level of care I saw in the hospital in areas like the endoscopy suite and new 50-bed unit and day ward,” he said.

The minister refuted claims that services have been downgraded at Ennis hospital, despite previous pledges from An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny before the last general election that services would be retained until something better was put in place elsewhere.

“There is no downgrading taking place in Ennis hospital. What is happening is a change in service by moving some services that were not safe because we don’t have the personnel to deliver them, such as vascular or orthopaedic surgeons or cardiac stenting.

“We are bringing in other services that can be safely delivered, which will secure the future of the hospital. The future of Ennis is secure,” he said.

“The services in Ennis will change only when better services are in place, which wasn’t the case before,” he said.

Asked if a cabinet minister is necessary to secure an upgrade of an emergency department, he dismissed this as a “typical Fianna Fáil approach to life”.

He pointed out a lot of cabinet ministers, like Arts Minister Jimmy Deenihan haven’t got a new emergency department in their constituency.

The HSE stated its doctors and nurses do not discuss individual case histories in public. A spokesman said, “Mr Murray knows how to raise any concerns he may have directly with the relevant clinical personnel or though the patient complaint process.”