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Westmeath Family Demands Answers After Dublin Hospital Refuse Referral

Wednesday, 23 July 2025 11:26

Fiona Coffey's father was denied a referral into a Dublin hospital from Mullingar for facial injury treatment.

A Westmeath family is looking for answers after being told Dublin hospitals are refusing to take referrals from Mullingar Hospital.

Last week, Fiona Coffey's father fell from a height and suffered a severe laceration to his jaw causing facial nerve damage, leaving him unable to close his eye or move his jaw muscles.

He was immediately brought to Midlands Regional Hospital Mullingar for both an CT Scan and an X-ray to assess the extent of the injury.

Doctors then told Ms Coffey's family he would have to go to Dublin for facial injury treatment.

However the Mater Hospital refused to accept a referral from Mullingar Hospital - with doctors in Westmeath telling the family to self-present in St James' Hospital in Dublin to get access to the required treatment.

Ms Coffey's father, who is almost 80 years old, had to then wait in A & E in Dublin for hours before eventually being given a bed.

She says the health service failed her family:

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