IHCA Statement on the HIQA Report into the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise

IHCA Statement on the HIQA Report into the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise

11th May, 2015: The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) expresses its sympathy to the families of the babies whose deaths led to the HIQA report.  

IHCA President, Dr Gerard Crotty welcomed the HIQA Report into the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise, which he said outlines eight important recommendations to address the factors which impacted adversely on the capacity of the hospital to deliver high quality safe care to patients. He said that the report highlights the critical importance of an adequately resourced service to ensure patient safety and the need for a clearly defined, agreed, resourced and published model of clinical service delivery for each hospital.

Dr Crotty said that healthcare staff endeavour to provide the best possible care to patients within the limited resources provided. However, he said the report confirms that the HSE failed to resource Portlaoise Hospital sufficiently and ensure governance arrangements that could safely deliver the range of acute services to patients presenting for care 24 hours a day seven days a week in a Model 3 hospital.

Dr Crotty said that the ongoing underfunding of acute frontline services nationally is a fundamental problem which is undermining the safety and quality of acute care. He said hospitals are not being resourced adequately due to steep budget cuts in recent years and inadequate frontline staffing levels. He said acute services are failing to recruit and retain the number of consultants and doctors required to provide safe and timely care to patients.

Dr Crotty said the recent HSE Performance Assurance Report confirms that acute hospitals were €27 million in deficit at the end of February. This underfunding means that the health service does not have the capacity currently to treat patients without delays against a backdrop of increased demand and growing waiting lists.

The IHCA has over the past seven years highlighted repeatedly that budgets need to be based on a realistic assessment of the demand for care and that the ongoing failure to fund and resource acute services properly is undermining the safety and the quality of care that can be provided to patients.

ENDS

For more information:

James Dunny, FleishmanHillard, +353 16188417/+353 863883903 james.dunny@fleishmaneurope.com

Fiona Murphy, FleishmanHillard, +353 16188470/+353 878194464 fiona.murphy@fleishmaneurope.com