CRITICALLY ILL PATIENTS have been put at risk by understaffing at a Cork hospital, according to a new report by the Health Information and Quality Authority.

The study has found that patients with acute conditions suffered as a result of out of hours clinical staffing levels and a lack of expertise in certain areas. HIQA has slammed the HSE, saying it failed to implement recommendations arising out of a 2008 report into care at Ennis General Hospital. That report had highlighted the risks associated with understaffing and the treatment of certain conditions. HIQA says it initiated the investigation at Mallow General Hospital after concerns were expressed about patient care there.

HIQA says that the HSE has, since February, addressed problems relating to round the clock expertise in Mallow, and has introduced a mandatory policy for Cork University Hospital to accept critically ill patients.

The Health Minister Dr. James Reilly has welcomed the HIQA report and has emphasised the need for the HSE to take the finding of reports seriously. He says he will be monitoring the situation closely and says:

Local hospitals can and should be a vibrant element of local health services, providing treatment and care at the appropriate level of complexity to the patients in their area.

Sean Sherlock, Labour TD from Cork East identifies that the report vindicates the staff at Mallow General Hospital, and that the workers have “had a cloud hanging over them since this investigation began in August 2010″. Sherlock says the report “highlights the HSE failure in general” to implement the recommendations arising from the Ennis investigation.