This article is from page 2 of the 2009-05-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
A WEST Clare father could have been admitted to Ennis General Hos- pital instead of been taken over 65 miles to the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick the morning he died.
That’s according to the Health Serv- ice Executive, who maintains that Dan McDonnell from Kilkee could have been admitted to Ennis hospital despite the closure of its accident and emergency services at night just 13 days before.
On Sunday, April 19, two weeks ago, the 59-year-old former county
council worker took ill at his home in Kilkee. He was examined by the out-of-hours GP service Shannon- doc, who called an ambulance.
The Kilrush ambulance met with a paramedic en route and the father of three was then transferred to the Limerick hospital.
Just a few miles from the hospi- tal, on the Dock Road in Limerick, Mr McDonnell suffered cardiac ar- rest and was pronounced dead at the Limerick hospital at approximately 6.30am.
The death of the popular Kilkee man was met with anger and concern by hospital lobby groups who main-
tained that had he been admitted to Ennis General Hospital, he may have had a better chance.
The HSE now maintain that Mr McDonnell could have been admit- ted to the Clare hospital, even though A &E was closed for the night.
It claimed that protocols are in place that would have allowed Mr McDonnell to be admitted to the hospital, even though it was after 8pm when the A&E closes.
“Outside of this time, patients can continue to be admitted directly to Ennis General Hospital for both medical and surgical problems if it has been arranged by the patient’s
General Practitioner with the medi- cal or surgical team on call.”
While the HSE maintain that the majority of acute medical conditions can be referred to the hospital by GPS and Shannondoc, GPs say they have not been consulted about the new regime imposed on the county.
At the time of Mr McDonnell’s death, the HSE said it “was satisfied all appropriate care was provided for him by the advanced paramedic team and the ambulance personnel Orme lint
It is continuing with “a clinical re- view of circumstances surrounding his case”.