THE DIRECTOR of Operations for HSE West, John Hennessy, yesterday called for the criteria in which acute hospitals are evaluated through the HSE Healthstat system to be changed.
Mr Hennessy’s call comes after the past three monthly Healthstat reports identified the main acute hospital in the west, University College Hospital Galway (UCHG), as the only hospital in the “red” zone out of 30 hospitals evaluated by Healthstat in the “green, amber and red” system of rating hospital services.
Mr Hennessy said the label attached to UCHG of being the worst performing hospital in the State “does an enormous disservice to the staff at the hospital” and is unfair.
At May’s HSE West Forum meeting, chairman of the forum, Cllr Padraig Conneely (FG), said “the hospital continues to be in the red light district. There are serious issues at the hospital and I take no pleasure in saying it, but the hospital is the worst performing in the country.”
However, in an interview, Mr Hennessy said Healthstat should widen its criteria so that it can focus on the quality of care at the hospital. “I think it would be helpful if Healthstat did contain a metric that picked up on quality of care of treatment. That would put a balance on the overall report.
“There is no question that there is any deficiency in the treatment or the care that is provided to patients at UCGH.”
Mr Hennessy said the Healthstat system had identified deficits in the hospital’s emergency department and outpatient waiting lists.
“There are important performance indicators and they should be managed, but I’m confident that this corner will be turned.”
The HSE has advertised for a new management team for the Galway University Hospitals Group and Mr Hennessy said this would improve the performance of the hospital.
