DOCTORS SLAPPED THE AUDIT OFFICE - 'NEXT TIME YOU DO A SURPRISE CHECK IN AN A&E DEPARTMENT, THINK ABOUT THE NEXT PATIENT' - Filenews 27/2 - by Marilena Panayi
"The moment you think about doing an audit in the A&E again, it would be good to think about the next patient first," said the vice president of the Pancyprian Medical Association, Chrysanthos Georgiou, addressing the Audit Service, during a meeting of the Parliamentary Audit Committee.
As he said, the Audit Office has the authority to examine procedural issues, however when it is reported that a doctor of a specific specialty was called and did not show up within half an hour or an hour, other parameters must be taken into account.
"When you call an anaesthesiologist and he is late, you have to ask yourself if he is already in surgery or if he is intubating a patient. Then you can count the time," he noted.
The Committee was discussing the recent report on the A&E of Nicosia and Limassol, which was based on unannounced inspections in the early hours of October 1, 2025 with OKYPY and the doctors responding to all the auditors' findings and proceeding with their own remarks at the same time.
The report, it is recalled, records structural and procedural weaknesses, long delays, prolonged patient stays, as well as issues of compliance with procedures during admissions.
Mr. Georgiou, who is also the director of the Trauma Center at the Nicosia hospital, described the method of control as "schizophrenic", talking about the unfair targeting of doctors. "You can't just talk about delays. If you have a CT scanner and five cases, it makes sense that it will take hours. One patient should be examined in 20 minutes, the other can wait seven hours. The medical decision is both a medical and a legal responsibility," he stressed.
What must be checked for quality purposes, he stressed, is "whether during his stay in the A&E department, no matter how many hours it was, the patient received the care he should receive. From the moment the patient enters the Department, he begins to receive services. We cannot separate this from the rest of the clinical practice and talk about patients' stay times in the A&E departments."
Mr. Georgiou also referred to the conditions under which doctors work during their on-call duties: "They should come and see if the doctors have a shower at their disposal when they need it. To see if we are offered food. We are not entitled to food. If we leave to go get food, will the Audit Office point it out and say that the doctors are to blame?"
The Executive Director of OKYPY, Kypros Stavrides, commented on the Audit Office's references to incomplete completion of various forms, acknowledging that there is a relevant gap in this process.
He admitted that the operating manual of the A&E needs to be updated, while regarding the findings regarding the signing of patient admissions by residents and not by specialist doctors, he stated that "the trainees always act under the supervision of specialist doctors".
