Victim criticised withdrawal of cardiac service criticised by heart attack victim

Suspension of cardiac service criticised by heart attack victim


Áine Ryan

THE TEMPORARY suspension of the vital cardiac rehabilitation services at Mayo General Hospital (MGH) was last night (Monday) strongly criticised by a 59-year-old man who suffered a massive heart attack two months ago.
A week ago he turned up for his first appointment for his rehabilitative programme at MGH and was told the service was suspended. He had not received any notice.
“I suffered a serious heart attack two months ago and it obviously meant a huge change for both me and my family. I am taking things one day at a time and was looking forward to starting the rehabilitative programme because I felt it would be an important step on my road to recovery,” the man said.
During surgery he was fitted with an ICD (Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator) he also told The Mayo News last night.  
“I was really disappointed when I arrived in Castlebar last Monday morning for my first appointment only to be told that the service had been suspended. Nobody from the hospital had been in contact with me to tell me that the programme wasn’t going ahead and I had organised myself and my family to tie in with it,” he continued.
“I was told that the cardio rehab programme was being suspended due to unforeseen circumstances and that somebody would be in touch when it was starting again. That was that,” he added.
In a frank interview, the man also revealed: “Nobody prepares you for dealing with the aftermath of a heart attack and the profound effect it has on you, and the people around you. I have spoken to other people who have done the cardio rehab programme and they’ve had nothing but good things to say about it. It helped them come to terms with what had happened, gave them confidence and allowed them to set goals for themselves.” 
However, in a reply, seen by The Mayo News, to a written question by Deputy Michael Ring about the debacle, the hospital manager, Mr Tony Canavan said the service was ‘excellent’.
“We have an excellent Cardiac Rehab programme running at MGH for a number of years now. Our permanent rehab co-ordinator is currently on maternity leave and we replaced her with another excellent co-ordinator. Unfortunately for all concerned, she became ill last week and will be out for at least four weeks,” stated Mr Canavan.
“The prospects of replacing someone in a specialist area such as this in such a short timeframe are very poor. We took the decision to inform all relevant patients that the service was temporarily suspended. We regret any inconvenience that this has caused to our patients but as I’m sure you will agree the suspension was outside of our control,” he concluded.