Local medical clinics won’t solve MUH A&E chaos – Canavan

The head of the hospital group responsible for Mayo University Hospital (MUH) has said greater use of local medical clinics won’t alleviate ongoing overcrowding in the hospital’s A&E.

Speaking at the HSE Regional Forum West, Saolta CEO Tony Canavan said that primary care would not impact the number of people attending MUH.

Today (Wednesday June 28), there are 10 people on trolleys waiting for a hospital bed in MUH. 

Mr Canavan was responding Bonniconlon-based councillor John O’Hara, who asked for 24/7 GP cover to be put place in a Ballina medical centre to triage patients and ease the numbers travelling to MUH.

GP services in Ballina are provided during normal working hours, Monday to Friday, by local doctors and by Westdoc outside of normal working hours.

Cllr O’Hara claimed that 24/7 GP care was not being provided outside normal working hours due to the insurance risk.

“I think it’s unfair that people goes up there and some of them goes home again in pain and it’s wrong, in the society we’re in,” Cllr O’Hara said.

“I think we should be getting down that list and using these medical centres instead of having them up there for 24 hours some of them, and some of them can be up to six days on trolleys.

“That’s my thinking, and it’s the thinking of a lot of people all over the county,” the Fine Gael councillor added.

In response, Mr Canavan said that the HSE was trying to ensure that patients ‘access the appropriate service in the appropriate location’.

“I know that sounds like real bureaucratic speak, but what that means is that when a patient needs to see their GP, we’d like them to get to their GP. When they really need to be in the emergency department, that’s where we want them to be,” Mr Canavan continued.

“It’s not that one is a replacement for the other. It’s that different patients have different requirements and to try and get them into the right streams at the right time is just the most efficient way to deal with it.

“What I would say to you is putting more GPs in place in Ballina or associated with the district hospitals won’t impact on the number of patients waiting on trolleys.

“For example, at Mayo University Hospital, patients that arrive there and are deemed that they are required to be admitted into a bed, that decision is taken within the hospital by the doctors within the hospital.

“Sure, that’s a significant problem. And yes, primary care has a part to play, but in terms of deciding who gets into a bed or who needs to get into a bed, that’s a decision taken within the hospital.”

Cllr O’Hara replied: “Alright Tony. I suppose we’ll have to wait for a new A&E. That seems to be the answer anyway.”