A new system of readmission to hospital for oncology patients is being developed, Beverley Flynn TD has been assured.
At the Oireachtas Health Committee last week, Deputy Flynn was assured by Professor Brendan Drumm, head of the HSE, that the readmission of hospital patients would be a priority.
The Mayo deputy had raised publicly the question of why oncology patients, returning to UCHG for treatment, were required to present themselves at A&E even though they were in need of urgent attention.
Professor Drumm acknowledged that there is a problem associated with the readmission of seriously ill patients to hospital.
“There is a real frustration that a patient not only with cancer, but other patients who have a chronic association with a hospital, are directed back through an accident and emergency department,” he said.
“As we move forward with the development of our care of chronic disease, we will try to make direct contact between the patient and an in-hospital service rather than going through accident and emergency,” said Professor Drumm.
Dep Flynn said that such an arrangement would be far more appropriate to a patient returning to a hospital for treatment of an ongoing condition.
“An oncology patient, faced with an emergency, should be able to go directly back to the oncology unit, where his or her medical history is already well known and recorded. Having to register and wait in A& E, perhaps for several hours, is surely against all best medical practice,” she said.
