Local TD, Denis Naughten has welcomed the announced expansion of the Endoscopy Service at Roscommon County Hospital, stating that it was a “long overdue development”.

“Over the years I had pressed numerous Ministers’ for Health on the need to invest in the endoscopy service at Roscommon County Hospital, and this was one of the commitments which I received from Minister Reilly, last July in advance of the downgrading of our Accident & Emergency Department.”

Denis Naughten continued: “This facility is important for patients with bowel concerns and will be useful in the early diagnosis of problems including bowel cancer. But it is disappointing that the new service was not operational from last September as originally envisaged, with an additional 1700 people being treated at Roscommon County Hospital.”

“The expanded Endoscope Service is a positive development and this along with the development of other services at the hospital is positive, but it’s still not a replacement for our emergency services that were withdrawn from the hospital 12 months ago. I now hope that as well as investing in non-emergency care at the hospital, that there is a full review of potential emergency care services that can be safely provided at Roscommon County Hospital, as this is what the public were promised & demand” concluded Denis Naughten.

Copy of announcement

Media Release
Roscommon Hospital expands its Endoscopy Service
13 July 2012

Roscommon Hospital has announced the expansion of the Endoscopy Service at the hospital as part of the development of the hospital within the Galway and Roscommon University Hospital Group.

Since the Group was set up in January, one of the main aims has been to maximise the resources of each hospital in the Group to deliver a high quality patient-centred healthcare service for the people of Roscommon and Galway.

The expansion of the Endoscopy Service at Roscommon will be a key component in meeting the Department of Health’s Special Delivery Unit target for inpatient waiting lists which is a maximum of 13 weeks waiting time for scopes. There are two types of scopes or camera tests carried out by the Endoscopy Service at Roscommon hospital; the first is a test for the stomach known as an OGD and the second is on the large bowel known as a colonoscopy.

Tony Canavan, Chief Operating Officer, Galway and Roscommon University Hospital Group commented, “In January, the Hospital Group had 9,901 patients who would potentially breach the target of waiting longer than 9 months if they were not seen by the target date of 30 September and as of 12 July we have reduced this number to 2,934.

“The expansion of the Endoscopy Service is a key component in helping us meet the target of 13 weeks waiting time for routine scopes and significantly increases the contribution that Roscommon makes to the overall success of the Group. Of the 2,934 patients still on the inpatient waiting list, around 1,100 are waiting for routine scopes. The situation for urgent scopes is different; patients who require urgent scopes are seen within four weeks and are not part of this waiting list.

The expanded Endoscope Service is one of many services that have been introduced at Roscommon in the past months. In addition we have introduced Sleep Studies, Urology Services and extended the Plastic and Reconstructive surgery services in Roscommon.”

Elaine Prendergast, General Manager at Roscommon Hospital commented, “This is a significant development and part of our plan to develop local excellence at this hospital. We have secured funding from HSE Estates for a new purpose built Endoscopy unit and we want to start increasing the use of our services in advance of the new build and demonstrate the important role the hospital plays in delivering high quality and safe services to the people of Roscommon and Galway.”

“We will be contacting patients on the waiting list at Galway University Hospitals to offer them appointments in Roscommon where the procedures will be carried out by Mr Liam McMullin, Consultant Surgeon and Mr Mohamed Eldin, Consultant Surgeon. I look forward to welcoming an additional 160 patients to the hospital every month.

“A survey of 80 surgical inpatients and day case patients in the hospital in May showed that 92.5% judged their overall satisfaction with our service as ‘Excellent’ with the remaining describing our service as ‘Good’; we are delighted that we are able to provide a high quality service which meets our patients’ needs and we will continue to focus on providing local excellence.”