Fears for Portiuncula Hospital as consultancy unfilled

Fears have been expressed of a ‘downgrading by default’ at Portiuncula Hospital, after the HSE failed to fill a consultant’s post after a vacancy of more than a year-and-a-half.

Independent Deputy Denis Naughten told said a decision in recent months by a consultant geriatrician not to take up the post “does not augur well” for the Ballinasloe Hospital.

And he told the Connacht Tribune that the possible downgrading of the Emergency Department at the hospital is still very much on the cards, despite denials from the Department of Health.

There have been no stroke services at the hospital since March 2013 following the resignation of a consultant geriatrician – patients now have to travel at least 40 minutes by ambulance to University Hospital Galway for life-saving treatment.

“The fact that a consultant has not taken up the post in Portiuncula does not augur well for that post and other posts in the future.

“It has been vacant since March 2013, I understand the post has not been filled despite an interview process earlier this year, and it will probably be another 12 to 18 months before they can fill it.

“That will be three years with a lack of a vital service in the Ballinasloe catchment area. The Emergency Department is already effectively downgraded because the hospital cannot treat stroke patients.

“While the proposed downgrade of the ED [contained in a leaked document from the Department of Health to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform] was not implemented as part of Budget 2015, it is copper-fastened in that document and can be looked at again if the Department believes the financial circumstances merit it.

“For more than 18 months, if a person has a stroke, they have to be brought to Galway. Every minute counts – two million brain cells die every minute during a stroke,” said Deputy Naughten.

He called on the HSE to immediately install a Telemedicine stroke machine in Portiuncula, which would allow diagnoses to be made by consultants at other hospitals.

“Seven of these machines are lying idle in cardboard boxes in Cork. This is the third biggest cause of death and disability in the world we’re talking about.

“If one of these machines was in Portiuncula, we could treat all stroke patients on a 24/7 basis. Give a laptop to the consultant geriatricians in Roscommon, Sligo and Letterkenny, and they can make a diagnosis from home,” said Deputy Naughten.

Read more in this week’s Connacht Tribune