Cystic fibrosis charities clash over upgrade status

Cystic Fibrosis Ireland (CFI) has come under fire from another CF charity for making public pronouncements about the dire state of paediatric facilities at Cork University Hospital (CUH) while failing to mention that a major upgrade is currently under way.

In the run up to the general election, CFI called on politicians to make CF a priority. Specifically, the charity said there was an “urgent need to drastically improve both the paediatric in-patient and out-patient facilities at Cork University Hospital (CUH) which are not fit for purpose”.

The charity said the improvements “must be a matter of priority at a Department of Health level and should not be reliant on charitable funding”. The charity singled out CUH and Beaumont Hospital in Dublin as having “major problems” in terms of infrastructural deficits for CF patients.

CFI made the same points in a briefing paper to Health Minister Leo Varadkar on January 25.

However, CFI failed to mention that construction of a paediatric out-patient clinic is already under way at CUH, having started last June and is expected to be completed in December 2016 at a cost of €500,000, paid for by Munster CF charity, Build4Life. Build4Life has also agreed to fund the children’s CF in-patient rooms during the second phase of the overall re-development of CUH’s paediatric unit

Build4Life founder Joe Browne said he was concerned CFI was giving the wrong impression in relation to CF facilities at CUH; that he had been contacted by parents worried that the project had hit a snag.

“CFI is giving the impression that there is nothing happening at CUH when in fact new facilities are being developed as we speak. I am confused as to why they are telling Mr Varadkar the development should be a priority and not reliant on charitable funding,” he said.

Mr Browne said he has issued a statement on the charity’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/Build4Life/ to reassure parents that construction work is under way at CUH.

However, CFI chief executive Philip Watt said “it is still the case that facilities [at CUH] are not up to scratch” and that they are “trying to keep the pressure up to make sure the commitment [to improve facilities] is followed through”. Mr Watt said the new facilities “were still not built and there were still a lot of problems”.

At the time of writing, Mr Browne said the HSE had confirmed it had not received any offer of funding from CFI.