Cavan General's surgical precision to be rolled out nationwide

A major review of how patients progress through the surgical health system, as adopted at Cavan General Hospital in a scheme which has halved the length of time patients must wait for some procedures, could be piloted elsewhere around the country.

It could, based on the details contained in a UK government-commissioned report on hospitals of similar size to Cavan, also lead to a savings of billions to the State going forward.

The 24-hour emergency cover implemented by a team or surgeons, including Dr Pawan Rajpal, Clinical Director of anesthesia and surgery, and Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon within the RCSI Hospital Group is based on the 'Lean’ efficiency model pioneered by Japanese car giant Toyota.

Using peer performance review to build effective teams, the hospital is aiming to provide safe, easily accessible and efficient healthcare to the community.

Over the past two months alone, the 'Day Surgical Project’ project has seen 80 patients transfer from Dublin’s Beaumont to Cavan General, where they could have the same awaited treatment carried out quicker.

In medical terms, the Toyota 'Lean’ model has streamlined the passage patients take through the health system, providing more direct options for the consultants to deal with the case, and allocating a points score to prioritise those most in need.

Now providing some of the quickest treatment times in the country for certain surgical procedures, the success of the model has attracted the attention senior HSE officials, including Director General of the Health Service Executive, Tony O’Brien.

While the average length of a hospital stay in Ireland was 6.1 days in 2014, in Cavan it has been cut to less than four.

The hospital also compares very favourably with the rest of the country in terms of average length of stay per patient for a range of procedures - just two examples being appendectomies where the average national stay is 3.2 days, while in Cavan it is 1.56 days.

In the case of a colectomy, the part or entire removal of the colon, the average national stay is 18.2 days, while in Cavan it is less than 12 days.

Furthermore, Dr Colm Henry - the National Clinical Adviser and Group Lead for Acute Hospitals in the HSE inspected the Lean model on-site in Cavan in recent weeks, and is also said to have been impressed.

A recently published independent report carried out in the UK by Lord Carter of Coles found that one in 10 beds were taken by someone medically fit to be released, and eliminating 'bed-blocking’ or delays in discharging patients out of hospital after treatment could save up to £5stg billion.

A spokesperson for the RCSI Hospital Group, of which Cavan General Hospital is part of, told The Anglo-Celt:

'Cavan and Monaghan Hospital can confirm that a Day Surgical Project is being piloted, and this aims to reduce day case surgical waiting lists within the RCSI Hospitals Group.

'To date, the hospital had treated eighty patients (day surgical) from Beaumont Hospital. The Day Surgical Project is currently being reviewed for its effectiveness by Cavan & Monaghan Hospital, the Department of Surgery, Beaumont Hospital and the RCSI Hospitals Group.'