Scairbh

Na

gCaorach

EMYVALE

Will The MIU Close.

On July 22nd 2009 what was left of our A & E in Monaghan General Hospital was reduced to a Minor Injuries Unit with specific restrictions on what could and what could not be treated there. No ambulance would take patients there and only those walking or in private transport could go there. All emergencies would be responded to by a First Responder, who would have a special car and get to the scene of the emergency first, would stabilise the patient, who would then be transferred to Cavan or Drogheda by ambulance. In serious cases the First responder would accompany the patient in the ambulance to the hospital. This system was offered to the people of Monaghan as an alternative to the excellent service, which was taken away from us. This was to be a ‘better and safer service’ for us.

Now two years plus later we know that the new system did not work as many occasions proved, when the First Responder was not the first or even the second to arrive at the scene and at times did not arrive at all. There were also times when a local GP had to be called in to help keep a patient alive and capable of the long journey to a distant hospital. There were times when ambulances had to pull in along the roadway in order to treat the patient and keep them alive. We know that this type of care is not good for patients and causes great difficulty for medical people to maintain life and causes greater difficulties in achieving a satisfactory recovery, though it can be very difficult to prove beyond doubt that the delay was responsible for those who are DOA or who die shortly after arrival, but the question must be asked. Consultants in Emergency Medicine, who know what they are talking about, tell us that there are more deaths due to overcrowding in A & Es and delays in treatment than road deaths each year yet these conditions have been imposed on the people of Monaghan.

On October 7th this year a new system came into operation – The First Responder Car was withdrawn from service, the First Responder (the Advanced Paramedic) was now allocated to an ambulance when determined by the Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System (AMPDS - a computer which determines the gravity of each emergency call,) and the Minor Injuries Unit was reduced to a 9 to 5 five day week operational roster. This, do we need to remind people, is the ‘better and safer services’ we were promised and has happened under the watch of two political parties who promised the people of Monaghan that all services in Monaghan General Hospital would be retained. Except that these changes were brought about not because of patient safety or a better service but to save money. We have also been told that the MIU hours will be reviewed ‘next year’ and may then be returned to 12/7. So at long last we have the proof that the saving of money is more important to them than patient care and patient safety. Oh how they fooled us into believing that they cared for us and wanted something better for us!!

However, even with all that has gone before and despite the stealth and double talk and secret planning there are politicians who still believe that we are ‘scaremongering’ or try to convince others that we are scaremongering. There are still councillors, who believe that the Minor Injuries Unit will return to 12/7. There are some who cannot take our word for it even though we have been proven right in all that we have foretold and warned of. So, for their benefit, we lay out the reasons why the MIU will likely close next year and how the hospital will take another step closer to the ‘Glorified Nursing Home’.

First of all we ask - who out there thinks that there will be a return of the Celtic Tiger before the Summer of 2012? Very few? Correct. Since there will be no money then, there can be no return to 12/7 for the MIU. Why? We have been told that the reduction in hours will save over €400,000 annually. Now they want to save all of that €400,000 badly, which means that there will be no review of the hours in the MIU until next November. By then they will be looking at ways to save the next €3.5billion in the 2012 Budget and so Monaghan will still be in their sights as an easy target and will not be given the €400,000 back to return the MIU to 12/7.

Worse still – a big part of this saving is got from transferring staff from Monaghan to Cavan, which has already happened. Now where is the money going to come from to pay for the new posts needed in Monaghan to return any service? They cannot take the staff back from Cavan as very powerful people there would object and it just could not happen and so the hours cannot return. However since its downgrading the numbers attending Monaghan will have decreased and it will be then claimed that it is not sustainable to maintain a Minor Injuries Unit in Monaghan at all as so few people attend ever day and that another €400,000 can be saved by closing it altogether -- Q.E.D – unless you know different or unless you can persuade the Minister to order the HSE to restore the services to Monaghan in the interest of patient safety and to save the money by cuts to administration instead of frontline services – and we do not accept promises.