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Frustration within Department of Health over plans to close MLU at Cavan hospital

Sep 30, 2020 15:01 By News Northern Sound
Frustration within Department of Health over plans to close MLU at Cavan hospital
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There was frustration within the Department of Health over plans to close the Maternity Led Unit at Cavan General Hospital. Documents released under the Freedom

There was frustration within the Department of Health over plans to close the Maternity Led Unit at Cavan General Hospital.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show there were "issues" within the RCSI Hospitals Group "that needed to be resolved" before there was any clarity on the plans.

News emerged in June that RCSI Hospitals planned to close the MLU and merge it with the consultant led unit in the hospital.

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It's believed the decision was made on the basis of a lack of demand for the service.

It's emerged in documents released to Shannonside Northern Sound News that the Minister and Department of Health and the HSE were not aware of the plans and learned of them from media reports.

The documents also show that despite repeated requests to RCSI Hospitals for a report into the plans to be drawn for the Health Minister in June, it still hasn't been delivered.

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An interim report from the National Women and Infant Health Programme in the HSE shows a conference call to discuss the terms of reference for a review of Cavan MLU was "not productive".

The report says "there were RCSI related issues that needed to be resolved".

It continues saying the RCSI Group subsequently decided to take a different approach to the review, which would include representatives of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and the Rotunda in Dublin.

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That review was expected to take two weeks but it's not believed a report has, as of yet, been furnished to the Department of Health or HSE.

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