Sinn Féin’s work in the Dail this week on Health 1305-2205-08
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
Irish Politicians’ Blogs
Originally posted on ClondalkinSinnFein
HSE axing of service for self-harm patients is disgraceful – Ó Caoláin
Published: 19 May, 2008
Sinn Féin Health spokesperson and Cavan-Monaghan TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin has revealed that the Health Service Executive has axed a service to patients who self-harm and who have presented at Accident and Emergency Departments in Cavan and Monaghan. The role of Specialist Liaison Nurse was established in 2006 and the service has been catering for growing numbers of people who have self-harmed. However, the service has now been discontinued.
Deputy Ó Caoláin said:
“I have learned that the Health Service Executive management in Cavan and Monaghan decided in April to discontinue a very essential and valuable service that has been assisting many people in Counties Cavan and Monaghan since 2006. These are patients who present at A&E having deliberately harmed themselves. It is a very serious mental health issue with such patients being clearly identified as at risk of suicide.
“At a meeting held at the start of April this year HSE management decided to discontinue the service being provided by a Specialist Liaison Nurse. HSE management has since claimed that this was done in order to ‘conduct a review’ of current service and future needs.
“It is disgraceful that such a vital service has been discontinued. It is totally disingenuous for the HSE to claim that the service is being ‘paused’ for the purposes of a review. If the service was working well - and it clearly was - then it should have been left in place and only altered if a review found that change was necessary for the better care of patients.
“It is obvious that the motivation for axing this service is not the needs of patients or any real review of the effectiveness of services provided. Instead it is yet another HSE cost-cutting exercise designed to trim budgets regardless of the impact on patients.
“I have learned from the National Office for Suicide Prevention that they are part funders of the Specialist Liaison Nurse role and have in fact provided the HSE NE with part funding for the appointment of two Specialist Liaison Nurses to cover Cavan and Monaghan. However, a second appointment has never been made by the HSE. The National Office for Suicide Prevention has, I am advised, now written to the HSE North East requesting the return of the 50% funding they have provided for these posts.
“This latest cut worsens the already inadequate and under-resourced mental health services in these two counties, especially for younger people. Since February last the HSE North East has only been accepting urgent or emergency child and adolescent psychiatric referrals from GPs in Cavan and Monaghan.
“The HSE Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (Cavan and Monaghan) wrote on the 12th February to all General Practitioners across Cavan and Monaghan advising that ‘with regret…we will only be able to accept urgent or emergency referrals’ as and from 18th February.
“The service’s Consultant Psychiatrist Dr. Maeve Doyle has pointed out that staffing levels are inadequate to meet the needs of the Child Psychiatry Service which prioritises the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with serious mental health problems. There are 6.5 whole-time equivalent posts for Cos. Cavan and Monaghan, a catchment area of 120,000. There should be 11 clinical staff per county, i.e. 22 for Cavan/Monaghan plus three secretarial staff. The service has been working with this inadequate staffing level since 2004.
“In Febraury last in the Dáil I pressed Tánaiste and Finance Minister Cowen, now an Taoiseach, on the underfunding of mental health services and asked him to provide the necessary resources to ensure the delivery of the commitments made in the Government’s mental health strategy document, A Vision for Change.
“The then Tánaiste praised the psychiatric services available in Cavan-Monaghan, saying that the counties had spearheaded care in the community. However, Minister Cowen failed to respond to my question on child and adolescent psychiatric services in Cavan and Monaghan and the funding of mental health services generally across the country. Now we have an example of a HSE cut directly affecting that care in the community model, the withdrawal of essential after-care visits and the support of the sole Specialist Liaison Nurse serving both Counties Cavan and Monaghan.
“I will continue to demand of this Government that they call an immediate halt to HSE cuts, and in particular that they restore these essential services for all who need them in Cos. Cavan and Monaghan.” ENDS
Health Minister must ensure full disclosure on North East cancer reviews – Ó Caoláin
Published: 20 May, 2008
Sinn Féin Health spokesperson and Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD has said there must be full disclosure of all the facts relating to the reviews of thousands of chest x-rays and CT scans in the North East HSE region. The Cavan/Monaghan TD said he had been contacted by people who are “living in fear and trepidation as they face a wait of two months for the result of their reviews”.
Deputy Ó Caoláin has secured a Dáil adjournment debate on the issue this evening (Tuesday). He said the Minister for Health and Children must accept responsibility.
Deputy Ó Caoláin said, “The Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney must ensure that complete and comprehensive information is provided, including by way of a public inquiry if necessary, on the systems failures that have led to this terrible situation for thousands of people in Counties Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Meath.
“The HSE North East has issued letters to almost 4,600 patients advising them that chest x-rays and CT scans are being reviewed. I have been contacted by people who are now living in fear and trepidation as they face a wait of two months for the result of their reviews. From what has been revealed so far the situation is so serious that misdiagnosis may have led to deaths in some cases. We need an explanation for the delay in acting on this matter after it first came to the notice of the HSE.
“Coming in the wake of previous cancer diagnosis reviews, all of this highlights the failure of successive Ministers, the Department and the HSE to ensure the delivery of the best care for all patients at all locations where cancer services are provided.” ENDS
Resources must be made available to expedite review of chest x-rays and CT scans in North East – Ó Caoláin
Published: 20 May, 2008
Sinn Féin Health Spokesperson Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD today secured a debate on the adjournment of the Dáil on cancer misdiagnoses in the North East area. Speaking during the debate Deputy Ó Caoláin said there must be full disclosure of all the facts relating to the reviews of thousands of chest x-rays and CT scans in the North East HSE region.
He said, “I have here one of the letters sent out by the Health Service Executive to thousands of people in Cos. Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Meath. It was received by one of my constituents in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan. At the best of times this woman is prone to anxiety and stress. We can only imagine her distress when she read this letter. She now faces two months living in fear and trepidation as she awaits the outcome of the review of her case.
“One of the first things that must be done by the Minister for Health & Children is to provide the resources to expedite the reviews and shorten the agonising waiting time for patients.
“Some letters from the HSE have actually arrived months after the person in question has died as a result of cancer, greatly adding to the grief of their loved ones. The HSE originally said four people who were misdiagnosed had died but I understand this figure could be as high as ten.
“The Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney must ensure that complete and comprehensive information is provided, including by way of a public inquiry if necessary, on the systems failures that have led to this terrible situation for thousands of people in Counties Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Meath.
“We need an explanation for the delay in acting on this matter after it first came to the notice of the HSE.
“Coming in the wake of previous cancer diagnosis reviews, all of this highlights the failure of successive Ministers, the Department and the HSE to ensure the delivery of the best care for all patients at all locations where cancer services are provided.” ENDS
Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: Legislation is promised to provide a legislative framework for the governance of information in the health sector. The health information Bill is promised for next year. In light of all concerns expressed in this Chamber this afternoon, when will the heads of the Bill be brought forward and will the Taoiseach make an intervention in the Department of Health and Children to ensure the backlog of legislation is addressed as a matter of absolute urgency?
The Taoiseach: In that regard, urgent legislation other than that Bill is coming from the Department of Health and Children for this session. The health information Bill is to provide a legislative framework for the governance of information in the health sector and there is a public consultation process involved in it. It is planned to commence in the coming months. Arising from that we will proceed with the preparation of the legislation.
Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: In the course of the career in politics of the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Barry Andrews, he should learn the lesson of the example provided tonight by his senior Minister. Her walking out at the outset of this debate is deplorable and gives a very bad signal to the people of the north east, on whom she has already turned her back repeatedly in respect of the health issues of concern to them. I have to hand one of the letters sent out by the Health Service Executive to thousands of people in counties Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Meath. It was received by one of my constituents in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan. The woman in question is willing to share the information that at the best of times she is prone to anxiety and stress. One can only imagine her distress when she read this letter. She now faces two months living in fear and trepidation as she awaits the outcome of the review of her case.
One of the first things that must be done by the Minister for Health and Children is to provide the resources to expedite the reviews and to shorten the agonising waiting time for patients. Some letters from the HSE have arrived months after the person in question has died as a result of cancer, greatly adding to the grief of their loved ones. While the HSE originally stated that four people who were misdiagnosed had died, I understand this figure could prove to be as high as ten.
This issue first came to public notice with a report in The Sunday Tribune on 30 March that the HSE in the north east was considering a review of radiology services, possibly involving the rechecking of thousands of scans for cancer. Given the experience of women in the midlands, this was of major concern to those in the north east who had undergone such scans. Concerns were expressed directly to me at that time. On 31 March, the HSE issued a statement indicating that a limited review was under way. The HSE did not state the exact nature of the tests involved and it was unclear whether the HSE had contacted patients who might have been affected. There was no clarity for patients, even though the HSE stated that the requirement to inform patients and their families must take precedence over all other considerations. I stated at the time that there should be no repeat of the mismanagement and lack of information that surrounded the midlands cancer screening scandal. I also stated that inadequate resources and facilities for oncology in the north east had been highlighted repeatedly by frontline staff and that cancer services in this region required significant enhancement. I regret that from what has been learned subsequently, this appears to be a repeat of the midlands scandal.
A locum radiologist was employed by the HSE from August 2006 to August 2007. My Sinn Féin colleague on Louth County Council, Councillor Tomás Sharkey, has highlighted how a man in his constituency was X-rayed in May 2007 and was sent home after being given the all-clear. On 14 November 2007, however, he was re-admitted to hospital and X-rayed. On this occasion, the radiologist on duty immediately recognised cancer on the X-ray. The second radiologist checked the May 2007 X-ray result and realised it was clearly shown on that one too. The patient in question was told he had cancer only when he went to another hospital for further treatment. X-rays of this man were taken hours before his death and the family have never been given a proper explanation as to how this tragic case was handled.
The locum radiologist who worked from August 2006 to August 2007 lives in Scotland. In the Irish edition of the Mail on Sunday of 18 May, he alleged he was being scapegoated. He stated he knew nothing about X-rays being recalled, as no one had informed him of the review. He also stated, “Why I am being singled out for all of these supposed mistakes when there were others in those hospitals who also saw the X-rays bewilders me.”
What was most significant in this report was the alleged comment from a person described as a senior source close to the review who said other members of staff had also viewed the X-rays of some of the patients who later died and had also missed the cancer lesions. The source is quoted as saying there were other weak links in the chain. Another source who attended the meeting held after the diagnosis of one patient said the oncologist’s age was a major factor in his being singled out by the review team. This raises very serious questions.
We hear a lot about clinical governance and the better management of our health services. Are we looking at a cover-up of the systems failure for which the current Minister and successive Ministers are ultimately responsible? The Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, must ensure complete and comprehensive information is provided, including by way of a public inquiry if necessary, on the systems failures that have led to the terrible situation facing thousands of people in counties Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Meath.
We need an explanation for the delay in acting on this matter after it first came to the notice of the HSE. Coming in the wake of previous cancer diagnosis reviews, all of this highlights the failure of successive Ministers, the Departments and the HSE to ensure the delivery of the best care for all patients at all locations where cancer services are provided.
Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy Barry Andrews): I will be taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney.
The HSE has instigated a look-back review of all chest X-rays and CT scans reported on by one locum consultant radiologist, who worked in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan between August 2006 and August 2007. This decision was made following expert clinical advice from Ireland and the UK and an examination of the cases raised. This review is being done as a precaution and as a reassurance for patients. The look-back review was prompted by concerns that four patients in two Louth and Meath hospitals during 2006 and 2007 had their diagnoses delayed due to an abnormality on their chest X-rays not being noted on initial examination. These patients were subsequently diagnosed with lung cancer by follow-up X-rays and have all passed away.
The Minister was informed in March of this year that the HSE, following further examination of the issue, was considering a separate look-back review regarding the work of that radiologist. The HSE issued a press release on 31 March following media reports concerning radiology services in the north east. That press release was based on the information available at the time. In its subsequent assessment of the situation, and taking into account the advice of external experts, the HSE agreed that the look-back review would include 70 CT scans.
Planning for this review commenced at the end of March 2008. A steering group was formed by the HSE on 9 April 2008 to oversee the radiology review. From April to 14 May, the steering group undertook preparatory work which included defining the methodology for the look-back exercise, sourcing radiologists to undertake the look-back, arranging indemnity for the reviewers, developing the process and resources for the look-back exercise across 2 X-ray departments in Navan and Drogheda and establishing the communication needs around the review and putting plans in place to meet them.
Chest radiographs are performed for many reasons - most are done for respiratory tract infections, bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, accidents, injuries, chest pain and heart failure. A small number are done for possible lung tumours, but the majority of patients who are being checked are extremely low-risk and are included as a measure of prudence.
Numerous challenges arose throughout this planning phase, particularly with regard to securing radiologists in Ireland who would undertake the look-back in association with the Louth and Meath radiologists. Following a review of options available, including external companies in the UK to undertake the look-back, a decision was made to proceed with an internal-external mixed panel of radiologists from Louth, Meath and Northern Ireland. The look-back review commenced on 15 May 2008 and it is expected that it will be completed within eight weeks. As each X-ray and CT scan is reviewed, the HSE will write to the patient to let him or her know the result of the recheck.
The HSE announced today in a media statement that, in the context of this review and during the last three weeks, two people already receiving treatment for lung cancer were identified to the review team. These people were found to be part of the original group of 4,500 patients to be reviewed. The HSE has advised the Department that, since these two people were identified, the focus has been on checking on their current status and care and assessing their significance in the context of this review. Before contact was made with the families of these patients and information provided to their families, it would have been inappropriate ethically and medically to make any public statement with regard to these cases. The HSE has been making contact with the families concerned since Friday, 16 May 2008 and continues to do so.
The HSE has also advised the Department that information confirmed by a HSE official to public representatives yesterday pertaining to these two cases was not in line with the HSE policy of not releasing any detail of the review or the people concerned until the review process is complete. An information line has been put in place and people affected by the review can make contact with the HSE directly. The number is 1850 241850. In patients’ interests and in keeping with the lessons learned from previous reviews, neither the HSE nor the Department will report any further on specific details of the reviews until they have concluded.
I agree that it is vitally important we ensure the delivery of best cancer care for all cancer patients. This is the reason this Government is totally committed to implementing the HSE national cancer control programme. The programme will offer equal access to all patients to the expertise of cancer specialists working together in major centres serving large numbers of patients. The designation of cancer centres aims to ensure that patients receive the highest quality care while at the same time allowing local access to services, where appropriate.
It is also important people are fully aware that where diagnosis and treatment planning are directed and managed by multi-disciplinary teams based at the cancer centres, much of the treatment, other than surgery, can be delivered in local hospitals. Chemotherapy and other aspects of follow up care will be carried out at local hospitals. This will involve significant realignment of cancer services to move from the present fragmented system of care to one that is consistent with international best practice in cancer control.
It is time to recognise that we cannot achieve high standards for cancer services by trying to provide a full range of services in centres that do not provide multi-disciplinary care and have very low volumes of patients. With the implementation of the national cancer control programme we are moving towards a more equitable system that can produce better outcomes than the existing system.
To ask the Minister for Health and Children the long-term status of Lifford Community Hospital, County Donegal.
Operational responsibility for the management and delivery of health and personal social services was assigned to the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Therefore, the Executive is the appropriate body to consider the particular matter raised by the Deputy. My Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have the matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.
Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: The establishment of a network of autism-specific special classes in schools across the country to cater for children with autism has been a key educational priority in recent years. In excess of 315 classes have been approved around the country at primary and post-primary level, including many in special schools. Children in these classes benefit from having fully qualified teachers who have access to training in a range of autism-specific interventions, including applied behavioural analysis, ABA, the treatment and education of autistic and related communication handicapped children, TEACCH, and the picture exchange communication system, PECS. These students have the option, where appropriate, of full-partial integration and interaction with other pupils. Funding is also provided for assistance technology and specialist equipment as required and special school transport arrangements may also be put in place.
My Department has put in place a training programme for teachers in autism-specific interventions including TEACCH, PECS and ABA through the special education support service. A recent initiative has been the expansion of this service to enable it to recruit a behavioural specialist support team, led by a person with a PhD in applied behavioural analysis.
My Department’s ABA pilot scheme was established in the absence of this network of special classes in our schools. Since July 2007, there have been 18 meetings with the autism groups in relation to the commitment in the current programme for Government to long-term funding for the centres that are in the ABA pilot scheme subject to agreement with my Department on standards that will enable them to be supported as primary schools for children with autism. The discussions have been wide-ranging and have included curricular issues, funding and staffing.
Discussions between the autism groups and my Department are progressing well. My Department is very anxious to finalise these discussions so that permanent arrangements can be put in place as soon as possible. It has been agreed not to disclose the details of the discussions while they are ongoing. It should be noted that discussions are taking place with Irish Autism Action on 12 of the 13 centres and separate direct discussions are taking place between the Department and the remaining pilot centre. The Deputies will appreciate that I am not in a position to comment further on these discussions.
Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: Does the Minister’s response represent the fact that the new Minister for Education and Science is approaching the whole issue of autism spectrum disorder with a new copy book? I must take hope from what he says, that the discussions, as he terms them, will indeed address the serious outstanding issues which were left on the departure of the previous Minister. I expect the Minister accepts that autism spectrum disorder, by its nature, covers varying degrees of severity and, therefore, different responses are required. If the Minister is not in a position to provide the detail, what we need is an affirmation of his intent to fully recognise the importance of ABA for those children for whom it is clearly appropriate, and that is the critical point. We want to see appropriate measures and opportunities in place which are accessible to all children on the basis of their respective needs.
Will the Minister indicate a willingness on the part of the Department under his stewardship to approach the whole provision of funding and resources for ABA on the basis of need as required across the board?
Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: I agree wholeheartedly on the child-centred approach. Meeting the needs of the individual child is what is important. It was stated the needs of the child can change from time to time and Deputy Ó Caoláin seemed to accept there are different approaches to meeting them. I come to this issue with an interest in ensuring there is sufficient capacity in the system, that the teachers are professional, that the enhanced resources put in place to date will continue to be made available and that the National Council for Special Education will advise the Department on progress that can be made on this issue.
Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: If the opportunity were open to me I would of course wish to move a Sinn Féin amendment to the motion. As amended on our proposal, the substantive motion tabled by both the Fine Gael and Labour would read as follows:
That Dáil Éireann, noting:
- the announcement of a national cancer strategy;
- the proposal to develop eight centres of excellence at various locations around the country;
- the intention to provide every patient with the best medical care and clinical attention;
- the absence of a centre of excellence north of a line from Dublin to Galway and conscious specifically of the geographical challenge and population distribution of the west-north-west region and north-east region; and
- the proposed closures at University College Hospital, Galway, where the centre of excellence is to be located, for the month of August this year due to severe budgetary constraints;
calls on the Government to:
- proceed immediately with the provision of centres of excellence, based on an adequate and ring-fenced budget;
- proceed immediately with the provision of a satellite unit at Letterkenny General Hospital and under the responsibility of the Galway centre of excellence;
- pending the twinning of medical oncology and surgical services at Letterkenny with radiation oncology at Altnagelvin, Derry, to form a centre of excellence for the north-west cross-Border region;
- retain existing safe, high quality cancer services as at Mayo General Hospital and Sligo General Hospital as satellite units under the responsibility of the Galway centre of excellence;
- pending the establishment of a centre of excellence in the north east retain the Dóchas centre at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda as a satellite unit under the responsibility of the Beaumont centre of excellence;
- ensure that all centres of excellence and satellite units are the subject of an annual HIQA audit; and
- significantly enhance cross-Border co-operation between health services, maximising the health-care resources of Ireland as a whole, particularly in the development of cancer care.
Sinn Féin is supporting the substance of the motion in the name of the Fine Gael and Labour Deputies; what I have done is indicate additions to the motion as submitted. We feel it is necessary to highlight the fact that the north-east region is also neglected under the current cancer strategy. It is necessary to set out what we see as the solution for Letterkenny and to strengthen the call for the all-Ireland delivery of services. We of course fully support the retention and further development of cancer services in Sligo and Mayo and at the Dóchas centre in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
With regard to the plans to remove cancer services in Sligo, Mayo and Drogheda, we fully support their retention and commend local communities for campaigning to retain the services. I reject the efforts of the Minister, Deputy Mary Harney, Professor Drumm and others to guilt-trip communities and their public representatives and suggest they are somehow being irresponsible for seeking the retention of these services.
We know from our experience in Monaghan what it is like to be at the receiving end of such an approach. The proponents of total centralisation of all hospital care are far removed from the reality on the ground. Part of that reality is patients dying because there is too great a distance to travel to hospital. It means people choosing not to be treated or choosing less than optimum treatment in order to avoid the disruption to themselves and their families of travelling long distances for that treatment.
Professor Keane is being repeatedly cited by the Minister and others as an all-knowing guru in terms of planning for cancer care. His knowledge and experience are undoubted but he was brought in to implement a plan that was already in place. The Government had already decided to provide only eight cancer centres, four of them in Dublin and none of them north of a line from Dublin to Galway. This leaves large swathes of the country without proper access, and even in advance of full implementation of the plan, services at local hospitals are being cut.
The term “centres of excellence” has been bandied about and I emphasise again a point I made previously on this issue, most recently during the course of our statements last month on cancer reports. We should start from the premise that every centre where cancer care of whatever type is delivered ought to be a centre of excellence. By the Government and HSE placing the emphasis on eight centres only, they seek to promote the belief that care delivery at other sites must therefore be inferior. That is a dangerous fallacy.
Nobody is arguing for radiation oncology facilities and a full spectrum of other cancer services in every hospital in the country. Eight centres with such facilities are too few and they are, as I and others have repeatedly pointed out, totally unbalanced in terms of regional spread, leaving much of the population very badly served or not served at all.
It seems the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, has her ears closed to these arguments. Last night there was a very important debate on the Adjournment concerning the thousands of men and women in the north-east region who have received letters telling them their chest X-rays and CT scans must be reviewed. They face a torturous two-month wait for results.
Major questions are raised about the conduct of the HSE and the overall responsibility of successive Ministers, including Deputy Harney, and the Department of Health and Children. Yet what did the Minister do yesterday evening at the end of the first part of this Private Members’ business and with questions pending? She left the Chamber with a Minister of State not a fortnight in office to take questions on her behalf. That is consistent with the approach of this Minister and Government to health policy and management. She does not want to listen, which is her problem. She does not want to listen to the people or public representatives. The Minister and her colleagues in the Department and at Cabinet created what I have described previously as a quango from hell. In this case it is the monstrous quango of the HSE. She has removed democratic accountability in toto.
The Minister for Health and Children would rather listen to corporate executives in the private health business and her HSE has awarded the contract for cervical cancer tests to Quest Diagnostics, a US company that has an unacceptably high rate of errors and has been convicted of fraud.
Not only are our health services being privatised but jobs and services are being exported. Trained and trainee lab technicians in Ireland are being written off and many have had to emigrate to find work. Patients’ tests are being sent out of the country to be dealt with by a questionable entity abroad. I shudder to think of the long-term consequences.
Another corporation, Fresenius, has been contracted by the HSE to carry out dialysis services. This corporation paid the biggest ever criminal and civil fraud fines to the US Government in 2000, totalling 0 million. The Fresenius scam involved fraudulent and fictitious blood-testing claims, kickbacks to dialysis facilities in return for blood testing contracts and fraudulent claims against state health insurers. This company will be based in Limerick. It has been given a major role in the provision of dialysis in our health services in the mid-west and south east.
The Minister, Deputy Harney, and the HSE trust the likes of these private profiteers in the health care industry more than they trust frontline health care workers in the Irish health services and the communities they serve.
People should be very clear on the position being taken by Government and Government-supporting Deputies in the vote this evening. There is nowhere for them to hide. If they vote for the Government amendment they are voting for the total centralisation of cancer services and the ending of services at Sligo, Mayo and the Dóchas centre in Drogheda. That is effectively what they will be doing. They are voting for eight centres which will be overburdened and which will not provide comprehensive coverage across the country. I appeal to those Government and Government-supporting Deputies to make a stand tonight and especially to those in the regions north of the Dublin-Galway line which are so badly served by this plan if it proceeds. I ask them to listen to their communities and the frontline health care workers in their areas. We should remember that each of us, as a Dáil Deputy, is a messenger of the people. We have no monopoly on wisdom in respect of these matters. We have no right to dictate to those who trusted their votes in us. We have no right to act against the interests of the communities we are elected to serve. A truly all-Ireland regionally based cancer treatment service is needed. I commend such an approach to the Government, even at this late hour.
Government inaction on superbugs is costing lives – Ó Caoláin
Published: 23 May, 2008
Sinn Féin Health & Children spokesperson Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD has said that Government inaction on hospital superbugs is costing the lives of patients. He was responding to news that 101 cases of Clostridium Difficile (C Diff) have been recorded since doctors were legally obliged to report cases from 4 May.
The Sinn Féin Dáil leader called on the Taoiseach Brian Cowen to intervene and provide the resources to implement the recommendations of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).
Deputy Ó Caoláin said:
“The scale of C Diff infection in our hospitals as revealed by these new figures is extremely serious. This infection is more virulent than MRSA and is causing fatalities in our hospitals. I regret to have to say it, but I believe many of these deaths are avoidable because Government inaction on hospital superbugs is costing lives.
“For several years now campaigners on MRSA have been calling for isolation facilities and other essential measures to deal with serious hospital-based infections. The Government and HSE response has been totally inadequate. A campaign to encourage people to wash their hands is not enough.
“I deplore the response of Health Minister Harney to the recommendations of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. We need a commitment to implement these recommendations in full and to allocate the funding this year to do so. Clearly Minister Harney is not up to the job and the Taoiseach Brian Cowen should intervene to see that this major threat to public health is effectively tackled.
“Sinn Féin demands that the Government implement the recommendations including: isolation of patients with C Diff in single rooms; each hospital to conduct its own surveillance of the infection; education on infection control to be mandatory for all healthcare workers; antibiotic prescribing to be monitored.
“It is significant that the HPSC highlights the lack of a specialist laboratory which would allow doctors to detect what type of C Diff is affecting patients and that doctors have to send samples abroad. Under this Minister hospital labs are being closed down and work contracted overseas. This policy must be reversed.” ENDS
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