People ‘will die’ because of hospital budget cuts
As debate raged over the Government’s plan to spend tens of millions of euro to keep three corporate jets at its disposal, patient groups warned that patients would die as a result of funding shortages.
Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital is examining ways of saving €21m through a number of cost-cutting measures, including shutting down its night-time kidney dialysis service.
A consultant at the dialysis unit, Dr Peter Conlon, said the service was running at full capacity and warned of dire consequences if the service was curtailed.
“The patients on night-time dialysis have nowhere else to go. Without dialysis they would die within seven to ten days,” Dr Conlon said.
The Irish Kidney Association said the hospital was the country’s main centre for dialysis treatment and described the prospect of cutbacks as “incredible” and “inconceivable”.
A spokesman for Beaumont Hospital confirmed that the hospital was examining serious cutbacks but said no firm decision had been made yet.
The options include closing 24 beds, placing a cap on cancer treatment, moving patients from nursing homes back into the hospital and maximising the use of private beds.
Hospitals across the country are also facing a funding crisis as they examine ways of saving money in the face of limited budget increases.
While there was a general increase in funding for hospitals this year, health chiefs say these have been wiped out by the rate of inflation.
“Beaumont is just one of many hospitals experiencing financial difficulties,” said Donal Duffy of the Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association. “It’s entirely unsatisfactory and effectively means the health strategy is binned.”
Health Minister Micheál Martin yesterday accepted that the year ahead would be a difficult one and underlined the need for the tight management of hospital activities.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, who obtained a confidential memorandum outlining Beaumont Hospital’s financial crisis, laid the blame at the door of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
“At the same time he is sending the Minister for Defence to the marketplace to procure a fleet of jets. When he gets the bargain basement prices, it would not be surprising if the minister does not also get a helicopter for the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Deputy Treacy,” the Labour leader said.
A report published yesterday also found that Crumlin Children’s Hospital, which treats 120,000 children a year with serious illnesses, is seriously outdated and needs to be replaced.
The New Crumlin Hospital Group, a parents’ lobby group, said the independent study showed the hospital was relying on temporary prefabricated buildings to deliver vital services.
Minister Martin, who recently met with the parents, said the facilities were not acceptable and had established a project team to oversee the development of the hospital.
