Groups ready to oppose Hanly health reforms

LOBBYISTS campaigning against the downgrading of small hospitals claim there are community groups around the country ready to mobilise at a moment’s notice to oppose the implementation of the Hanly reform of the health service.

Dr John Barton, a consultant physician in Portiuncla Hospital, Ballinasloe, Co Mayo, told the Oireachtas Committee on Health that he believed that the reforms proposed by David Hanly in his 2003 National Task Force on Medical Staffing report, commonly referred to as the Hanly report, were still on the Government’s agenda.

“Implementing the report would be disastrous for Irish health care and I don’t believe it has gone away at all,” said Dr Barton, who is a member of the Health Services Action Group (HSAG), an alliance of 16 hospital action groups from around the country opposed to the Hanly report.