HARNEYS LEGACY A FAILED HEALTH SERVICE
Issued : Wednesday 20 October, 2010
Limerick City Labour Deputy Jan O’Sullivan and Party Spokesperson on Health has today stated that the bed shortages in hospitals in Limerick and the Mid West resulting in 38 people lying on trolleys in Limerick Regional Hospital yesterday is further proof of a health service at breaking point.
The numbers of people now on trolleys in Limerick which is the highest in the entire Country or nationally does not take into account the even greater numbers of people in particular our elderly waiting patiently to be assessed.
These truly shocking figures should have been a wake call to Minister Harney that her reform plans are simply not working, but instead the Minister announces a further proposed cut in the Health budget of anything up to €1 billion.
The promised additional resources for Limerick Regional Hospital to ameliorate the reduced A&E services in Nenagh and Ennis have not been delivered. Instead we have witnessed a continuous reduction in services and bed capacity in the Mid West region with complete wards closed in St. Johns hospital.
Frontline health staff in the A&E are literally run off their feet and it is simply not acceptable that both staff and patients have to continue to endure these conditions. It is simply a fact that the Regional Hospital requires more beds and frontline staff to cope with the demands being placed on the hospitals services.
The most vulnerable and marginalised in our society are been forced to pay in terms of unacceptable waiting times for assessment, and then made if they are lucky sit on chairs or lie on trolleys while nurses try and find an empty bed.
This is Minister Harney’s legacy after years at the helm, a public health service at breaking point, frontline staff working under severe pressure, patients suffering needlessly and billions been cut in terms of funding to provide adequate levels of patient care. Simultaneously Minister Harney continues to champion the construction of private hospitals on public lands despite the fact that those in possession of private health insurance continues to decrease year on year.
Regrettably Minister Harney has chosen the easy option in sacrificing the innocent patient in her dogged pursuit of privatising, reconfiguring and downgrading our health service.
