‘Very little of Cavan’ within 90 minutes of heart centre

Seamus Enright

That much of the county lies outside of the 60 and 90 minute travel time threshold from a Primary Coronary Intervention Centre (PCIC) will be raised by elected members of Cavan County Council at the next meeting of the HSE's North East Regional Health.

Citing the campaign to provide a full-time catheterisation laboratory (cath lab) at University Hospital Waterford (UHW) earlier this year, Fianna Fáil's John Paul Feeley raised the issue in respect of Cavan last week. A €1 million mobile cath lab is due to be delivered to Waterford hospital later this month, after locals claimed victory as part of an ongoing fight to improve cardiology services for the region.
The staffed unit will cater for approximately 30-45 patients requiring Diagnostic Coronary Angiography per week from the current outpatient list and is expected to completely clear the hitherto stagnant waiting lists during its five months on site.
Cllr Feeley stated that much of Co Cavan is outside the nationally considered 60 or 90 minute travel time to a PCIC, a point central to Waterford's argument in securing a mobile lab as an alternative to outsourcing UHW patients to Cork for their cardiology diagnostics. Therefore he called on the Minister for Health and the HSE to set out a plan to ensure Cavan residents have access to the services.
The Waterford demand rose to prominence only after the death of Thomas Power. The 40-year-old died in an ambulance on his way to Cork University Hospital after failing to get emergency treatment at Waterford hospital because the cath lab did not operate at weekends.
“Very little of Cavan, in fact only a small portion to the east of the county, falls within the 60 minute timeframe,” Cllr Feeley told the monthly council meeting, adding that much of the county wasn't even within the 90 minute timeframe.
The majority of the county he said therefore was “not adequately” serviced, and there was a need to address the anomaly. The West Cavan Cllr added that the closest cath lab for some parts was in fact located in Derry.
Cllr Philip Brady informed councillors that he and others on the North East Forum would raise the matter at their next meeting.

Review

Cavan-Monaghan TD Niamh Smyth had earlier raised the same issue with Minister for Health Simon Harris. He replied that a review is currently ongoing based on independent clinical expertise. This will make recommendations regarding the future configuration of Primary PCI services, including number and location of centres required.
“The review will devise a plan for the achievement of the best patient outcomes possible, reflecting patient safety as paramount. The guiding principle for the review will be to strive to provide a primary PCI service that can deliver clinical outcomes on par with international standards,” the Minister said.