Drumm meeting with consultants ‘constructive’

The CEO of the HSE Professor Brendan Drumm met with clinicians from hospitals in Roscommon, Galway and Ballinasloe on June 26th. According to a statement from the HSE, ‘The meeting was very constructive and provided an opportunity for the CEO and the clinicians to discuss the various elements of the implementation of the joint department of surgery proposal for Roscommon and Portiuncula Hospitals.’ The statement added: ‘Professor Drumm agreed that the implementation plan should be comprehensive and detail the services that will be added to the hospital and those that will move to other facilities more appropriate to their complexity.’ Commenting Professor Drumm said, ‘We are committed to delivering excellent care at Roscommon Hospital. This proposal will involve introducing services at Roscommon Hospital that are currently not provided. This means that patients who may currently have to travel to Galway for procedures will be able to have them carried out at Roscommon. I cannot stress strongly enough that we remain fully committed to developing and building the services provided at Roscommon County Hospital. The changes we want to put in place are designed to deliver better quality to the community. They will have no impact on existing staff numbers at the Hospital. The current services at Roscommon will continue as at present until a detailed plan for the implementation of the change in services is completed. ‘Our focus now is on strengthening local facilities, like Roscommon County Hospital so that they can provide 80-90 percent of care people will ever need and only transferring specialist and complex care to larger facilities like University Hospital Galway. The outcome for patients requiring major complex surgery is better if this is done. This would affect less than one patient per day at Roscommon Hospital. ‘It is not possible to deliver the quality benefits of high volume for these complex procedures at smaller hospitals regardless of how many staff we have there. This is not unique to Roscommon and is an issue that is being addressed in other small hospitals around the country, just as it is being addressed in health services around the world.’ The statement from the HSE added: ‘Professor Drumm also met with the Mayor of Roscommon Cllr. Michael McGreal, Regional Health Forum Member Cllr. Tony Ward and Cllrs. Paula McNamara and Valerie Byrne and took the opportunity to outline the plan for the development of Roscommon Hospital to the local representatives.  He indicated that the implementation of this plan will involve capital investment in Roscommon Hospital to support the new service model, and agreeing clear protocols on how the two hospitals will work together, with Galway University Hospital and the ambulance service to ensure the best and safest patient care.’