THE GOVERNMENT HAS been accused of misleading the public over patient mortality rates at Roscommon Hospital by a community organisation.
The Minister for Health James Reilly told the Dáil that the average mortality rate at the hospital was four times higher than at other facilities, standing at 21 per cent. However the Roscommon Hospital Action Committee has obtained data that indicates the mortality rate is closer to an average of 5 per cent – a figure in line with most hospitals, RTÉ reports.
The accident and emergency department at Roscommon was closed yesterday morning and replaced with an urgent care unit which will only operate from 8am to 8pm, with patients then required to go to Galway, Sligo and Mayo hospitals instead.
A spokesperson for Minister Reilly said that the decision to downgrade services at Roscommon was based on two HIQA reports which deemed the facility to be unsafe – however, the HSE has today confirmed that the HIQA inspectors never actually visited the hospital before compiling the reports, the Irish Examiner reports.
Instead, HIQA inspectors made a report on the hospital from the appendix on the report into Mallow Hospital.
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