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.

It was also a myth that small hospitals could not deliver a high quality service, he said. “Nobody is against having centres of excellence but we must have small hospitals working with them,” he said.

Dr Barton said the Hanly Report was flawed, was badly put together and the issues were not adequately researched.

HSAG chairman, Peadar McMahon, warned that the Hanly-type reforms envisaged for the entire country would have the same impact on people currently served by hospitals like Monaghan General Hospital.

Since the hospital stopped dealing with emergencies in July 2002, there have been at least 12 cases where the patient did not reach the hospital alive, or died shortly afterwards.

The hospital resumed admitting emergency cases again in January, but will not admit children.

The HSAG, which is campaigning to have all of the hospital’s services restored, has warned that the hospital would no longer be in a position to deal with emergencies from July 1 next.

“We are living in fear and other people living near hospitals like Monaghan General should be also because they were facing a similar fate,” he warned.

He also warned that would be a knock-on effect for those served by the larger hospitals that are already struggling to cope with the present workload.

He said the Hanly report was completely out of step with the direction taken by other European countries.

HSAG secretary, Dr Tom Nolan, also a member of the Ennis Hospital Action Committee, warned that the closure of the hospital’s A&E unit would result in at least 20 deaths every year.