Calls
for action on hospital cuts
“The
only way to combat the radical spending cuts being proposed at Connolly
Hospital in Blanchardstown is to form an action group and link up with
other such groups around the country,” said Socialist Party leader
Joe Higgins at a public meeting in St. Brigid’s Community Centre
this week. The former Daíl deputy was referring to the news of
proposed cutbacks at the hospital, which was broken by Community
Voice in March.
“Back in 1987 when we were in the teeth of the health cuts, we
were obliged to set up a campaign to save our hospital from imminent
closure,” Mr. Higgins said. “Thanks to huge public pressure,
not only was the decision to close the hospital reversed but the hospital
was actually marked down to be developed. The same concerted action
by members of the hospital community, union leaders and local residents
needs to be mobilised now to reverse this appalling decision.”
Connolly Hospital had a deficit of €2.5m on its expenditure in
2007, which was absorbed by the HSE. However, the HSE has warned that
it will not be subsidising the expected shortfall of €3m in this
year’s expenditure and cutbacks will be inevitable.
The proposals to recoup the €3m include: the closure of a surgical
day ward for a month; the closure of the outpatients department for
a number of weeks during the summer and autumn in order to avoid paying
holiday cover; the maximisation of private beds to generate income;
and the introduction of pay and display car parking for hospital visitors.
“The HSE appears to be intent on downgrading the hospital and
pulling services back to 2006 levels,” explained Denise Hartigan,
a staff nurse at the hospital and member of the Irish Nurses Organisation.
“We have a nursing staff that is among the most highly qualified
in the world and we are losing them to Australia and Canada and countries
that value their expertise. We are constantly short-staffed and the
Accident and Emergency is almost at breaking point.
“What is perhaps the most frustrating of all for staff working
on the ground is that no major decisions about the hospital are actually
made in Blanchardstown. They are all made by a highly secretive and
anonymous management body up in Kells who we appear to have no access
to,” she said.
Dr. Eamon Leen, a consultant at the hospital, remarked that there was
a touch of Groundhog Day about the whole cutbacks issue. “After
the general election of 2002 was over, we were told that expenditure
was too high and cutbacks would have to be made,” he said. “And
after the general election of 2007, the same thing happens. Getting
our workload back to 2006 levels is impossible to implement. It is not
like cutting back on road building, where you simply don’t build
100kms of road. The Health Service is demand led and you simply can’t
turn around and not treat patients.
“We are currently the only major hospital in Dublin without an
MRI Scanner, yet the demand is there and it actually costs more money
to send people to Beaumont. The “Hospital in the Home” scheme
has been cancelled, putting extra expenditure onto hospitals,”
he said.
According to Dr. Leen, “these cuts are immoral and wrong –
it is as simple as that. I am not saying we should be providing every
service such as neuro-surgery but there are many services that we should
be providing and aren’t and even some that we used to provide
and no longer can.
“We certainly should have reform of the Health Service but the
cuts shouldn’t fall on those who can bear them the least,”
he said.
Community Voice, Media
House, Church Avenue, Blanchardstown,
Dublin 15
Phone +353 1 822 1432 - Fax +353 1 640 4444
info@communityvoice.ie
All
content and images are © Perceptions[Publicity and Event Management]
Limited. All rights reserved
Site developed by Vincent Cahill
