If Monaghan General Hospital introduced tele-medicine and increased the complexity of the cases they were allowed to treat in the Emergency Department, pressure would be lifted from the regional hospitals. Monaghan Councillor Paudge Connolly made the suggestions during a discussion on the Joe Finnegan Show about patients waiting on trolleys in hospitals across the country.
Cllr Connolly, who spent the earlier part of his career working in the healthcare system, said overcrowding is hospitals, and especially A & Es is in part, down to people abusing the system. The councillor said in a situation where people self-refer to hospital by ambulance with a sore head or tummy "it would be a legitimate question to ask who sent those people and did you go to the GP?" The independent representative said Monaghan General is "exceptionally well-equipped and under-used" but any work they do is "Exemplary".
Local hospitals like those in Roscommon and Monaghan could increase acuity, introduce tele-medicine and create links with hospitals across the globe to increase capability in their EDs which would, in turn, release pressure on hospital beds, Paudge Connolly said: "What they should do with the likes of Roscommon and Monaghan is increase the complexity of cases they're allowed to bring onto the hospital; increase the acuity, bring in tele medicine and, if needs be, links with major hospitals," Paudge Connolly told Northern Sound, "You could make far, far greater use out of them there because any work that they have to do, or that they do they're doing exceptionally well."
