Navan hospital safety concerns
Deputy Tóibín warns of rising hospital mistakes, severe incidents and the threatened closure of Navan A&E, urging the Minister to listen to medical professionals. The Ceann Comhairle cuts him off for time, and the Minister says he will pass the concerns to the Health Minister and notes overall improvements in life expectancy.
Aontú research has revealed that hospital mistakes have risen to 107,000 a year. Each instance represents damage done to a patient or a person suffering from ill health. There has also been a significant rise in extreme incidents, such as death or permanent incapacity, to 579 annually. This is happening because of a lack of accountability and resources. At the same time, the accident and emergency department in Navan hospital is threatened with closure by the HSE. I spoke to medical professionals in the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, RCSI, Hospitals Group, and they told me that the closure of the accident and emergency department in Navan hospital would be a travesty for patients in our region. Patients in County Meath would be forced from our hospital into a hospital group which has seen the highest level of adverse incidents in the country. If the Government proceeds to close the accident and emergency department in Navan hospital, it will have a fight on its hands, the likes of which it has never seen before. Tens of thousands of people will be on the streets and a Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael Deputy in County Meath will be a thing of the past.
Comment on this
Will the Minister listen to the medical professionals and stop this travesty?
Comment on this
Regarding the specific issues, I do not have details about the specific hospital, but I will pass this information to the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. I will also pass on Deputy Tóibín’s request for reassurance regarding Navan hospital. To make a general point, though, for all the failings of our system, recent analysis - and I do not have the exact figures, statistics or research here - has shown that our life expectancy in this country has increased dramatically. Independent international assessment of the outcomes experienced in our health system, which is ultimately measured in that length of life and the quality of the service, shows there have been significant improvements and that a good job is being done by our health system, despite all its failings, and the people working in it.