Navan Medical Assessment Unit's Hours Queried

'Operations' at a top Irish hospital are causing concerns in Co Meath this week.

Concerns about the proposed Our Lady's Hospital Medical Assessment Unit's service after 8pm at night have been raised.

Local Sinn Fein Councillor Joe Reilly, who has welcomed the new Navan unit, has expressed his concerns about the expected operational timetable.

Patients arriving outside of MAU opening hours (8am - 8pm) will be referred to emergency departments instead, and although the Health Service Executive said it has been shown that the workload of emergency after-hours from 8pm to 8am is only one quarter of the activity during daytime hours, Cllr Reilly is concerned about where the referrals will go to.

"I have concerns about how it will be funded and I also want to flag up the absolute need for the support of the general practitioners in the county for the post-8pm situation.

"After 8pm, where will the GPs and doctor-on-call service refer patients to, if there is a need to do so?

"Will it be to the already-overcrowded accident and emergency department at Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda? If that is the case, it will be unsatisfactory," said Cllr Reilly.

He said that it was "not on" to have emergency sites 20 miles away from Our Lady's in Navan.

He wanted to know what would happen to patients after 8pm at night. "This is a vital question and there needs to be very clear answers on it from the HSE," he said.

It is expected that the MAU will be set up on an interim basis in November to alleviate the emergency department pressures at Navan and provide "a safe, faster service for Navan medical patients typically attending emergency departments".

The MAU proposed for the hospital will adopt case mix criteria supporting direct GP access, priority access to diagnostics, closure at night and will be consultant-led.

(BMcC)