Delaying of Hanly report a deliberate ploy, says FG

THE publication of the third in a series of key reports on health service reform has been deliberately delayed as the Government will be unable to meet its recommendations, the Fine Gael party has claimed.

The Hanly report on hospital manpower, finalised in June, was to be published this month. Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health said no date had yet been set for its publication.

Fine Gael claims the Government is stalling its publication because of difficulties implementing its recommendations in time to meet the introduction of an EU directive reducing junior doctors’ working hours.

The report says more than 1,000 additional consultants will have to be appointed to cover around-the-clock rosters and also to take the place of junior doctors (NCHDs) whose working hours will have to be drastically cut to comply with the new EU directive. This requires NCHDs to work no more than 58 hours a week by August 2005.

The report was to oversee the implementation of detailed strategies for cutting the working hours of NCHDs.

Yesterday, Fine Gael Health spokesperson Olivia Mitchell said the Government was deliberately postponing the release of the report because it would put them on a collision course with consultants.

“They’re trying to wriggle out of it, but they are going to have to negotiate with the consultants and the junior doctors if this EU directive is to be met. Otherwise, they could face being fined by the EU.”

The Hanly report is also expected to antagonise communities and local politicians because of proposals to create clusters of hospitals in 12 centres throughout the State, withdrawing services from a number of smaller hospitals.

Opposition to the proposal is mounting with a major conference planned next weekend to review the future of small hospitals.

The day-long meeting in the Ambassador Hotel, Kill, Co Kildare, on Saturday is aimed at GPs who use small hospitals and doctors who work in them. Their concern is that the quality of service will be downgraded if the Hanly proposals are implemented.

Meanwhile, the authors of the Prospectus report on the restructuring of the health services, including proposals to abolish the health boards and replace them with four regional bodies, defended the Government’s delay in implementing its proposed recommendations.

Director of healthcare practice Vincent Barton said to the best of his knowledge, work had been done over the summer in putting implementation structures in place.

He said the massive scale of reform proposed by both Prospectus and the Brennan value-for-money report meant change could not be implemented overnight.

The Brennan Report and the Prospectus Report were launched in tandem on June 18 and underpin the Government’s health service reform plan, of which the Hanly report is the final, and most controversial, element.