Centre of excellence at Mayo General Hospital under threat -

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Centre of excellence at Mayo General Hospital under threat -"no logic" to decommissioning a department that has saved the HSE money" says Dr Jerry Cowley

Dr Jerry Cowley, Labour party general election candidate for Mayo is calling on the HSE not to downgrade the successful Stores Department at Mayo General Hospital.Dr Cowley visited the department on Wednesday, 3rd November to meet with staff on their concerns around the reorganisation of the service. It may mean that a service that saved over € 2.8 million for the HSE in Mayo General Hospital in the past year, is decommissioned. It is agreed by all that changes in the health service are necessary but Mayo General Hospital Stores Department is the most efficient in the Country presently.

Dr Cowley " I was extremely impressed by the commitment and professionalism of the staff of the stores department at Mayo General Hospital. This is confirmed by their nomination for a series of awards in recognition of their excellence. I cannot see any basis for downgrading a successful local unit, recognized nationally as a centre of excellence, based on arbitrary geographical factors as opposed to an analysis of the actual capabilities of the unit itself. There is no logic to this proposal which will cost several million of lost revenue to Mayo local suppliers. It also means that an unacceptable patient risk will come into play as no stock will be held on site at Mayo, but will have to come from Sligo or Galway in the event of an emergency situation. Considerable concerns have already been raised in the hospital concerning this ."

Staff informed Dr Cowley that their success in cutting costs on supplies for the Hospital is now being used as the model for the HSE throughout the country. It now seems that the 28 members of the team that has delivered this centre of excellence will be broken up and disbanded. Sligo and Galway are likely to be chosen as the new centralised stores areas and Mayo would lose out as a result.

Dr Cowley said he will be asking the parties health spokesperson to raise the matter with the Minister for Health at the first available opportunity in the Dail. He added "I call on all other public representatives in the county to join me to ensure that Mayo General Hospitals stores department is protected. If it can't be maintained in Castlebar, the HSE should consider using a central town in Connaught, Claremorris for example, as a base for any new centralised stores for the counties involved which include Galway, Sligo and Roscommon. This could also facilitate the retention of the excellent staff I met today in the county, serving the needs of the health service in the region as a whole. If properly managed this could mean 70 to 80 jobs for the Claremorris area.