BY NUALA MCALOON
How come two Dundalk mothers had a hospital bed each along side their teenage daughters after their children had their tonsils removed at the Tyrone County Hospital?
And, just why are children in Fermanagh been shipped to travel to Derry for tonsil operations when patients across the border are having the same ENT operation carried out in the Tyrone County hospital?
Those were the burning questions raised by an anxious reader this week who said she was astounded to learn in last week's 'Fermanagh Herald' that children from Fermanagh who had been on waiting lists for inpatient Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) operations at the Tyrone County Hospital were being put on a waiting list to have the operation carried out at the Altnaglevin Hospital, if they lived more than 30 minutes away from Omagh.
The Western Trust confirmed this week that in the interests of children's safety, all children's tonsillectomies must now be carried out as inpatients on the Altnagelvin site. The alleged mothers' stay-in is being investigated.
The news, the caller said, came a week after she attended the adult ward of the ENT Department in Omagh for an operation.
While there, she went on, two parents and their two teenage children from Dundalk stayed overnight in the hospital to have the teenagers tonsillectomies carried out.
"It was the adult ward of the Department. Two teenage girls from Dundalk were admitted, they would have been under Leaving Cert age, perhaps 14 or 15.
" I was talking to one of their mothers who told me they had received letters after Christmas to see a specialist in Monaghan but were told their operations would be carried out in Omagh if that was OK with them.
"They had been on the waiting list for four years in the South. They went to see the specialist about having the tonsils removed, and the woman I was talking to told me she had got a phone call at 8.00am on Wednesday and the procedure was to be carried out at 2.00pm on Thursday, and so it was."
Both patients and their parents, she said, stayed overnight on the ward.
"Both mothers thought they would have to book into a Bed and Breakfast but, because the ward was so quiet and empty, the mothers slept in beds beside the children's beds."
So why, she asked, are children from Fermanagh being sent to Derry for tonsil operations, but the Tyrone County hospital continued to cater for patients south of the border, even if they were classed as adults?
In response, Margaret Kelly, Director of Acute Services for the Western Trust said that in consultation with the Western Health Board and the department of Health, the Trust had decided that in the interests of children's safety, all children's tonsillectomies 'must' be carried out as inpatients on the Altnagelvin site.
"This is because while tonsillectomies are a common procedure, they should not be described as routine.
"With all tonsillectomies, there is a potential to bleed post-operatively, especially within 24 hours.
In children this is more serious and can become an emergency situation more quickly because a child has a lower volume of blood.
"There are no children's emergency or inpatient services at the Tyrone County Hospital so, in a paediatric emergency, there would be no appropriately qualified doctors on site to deal with the situation.
"I would emphasise that adult ENT services, both inpatient and day-case, as well as more routine children's day case procedures, continue to be delivered at the Tyrone County Hospital. ENT outpatient clinics for both adults and children remain unchanged."
With regard to patients coming from the Republic of Ireland to the Tyrone County, she said, this was something that was part of a long-standing relationship in the delivery of ENT services.
"The Western Trust wishes to continue this relationship, and children from the Republic who are currently waiting for tonsillectomies will have their surgery undertaken in Altnagelvin.
"With regard to the statement that patients from the Republic stayed overnight in the Tyrone County Hospital, the Trust takes this seriously and will investigate."
