Poll shows little faith in Harney over A&E crisis

LESS than one third of adults have faith in Mary Harney sorting out the hospital accident and emergency crisis.

Even less want her to generate funds for a crisis action plan by selling off lands attached to hospitals and health board facilities, as she said she was considering doing earlier this week.

These are the results of an opinion poll on the A&E crisis. Over half of those surveyed said it was easier to go to A&E than to get an appointment with a GP, especially in rural areas, while just over a quarter of those who had been to A&E in the past six months said they chose hospital over their local doctor because it was cheaper.

Other findings were:

68% had no idea what the Government’s strategy to tackle the problem was.

59% of Fianna Fáil supporters said they were also in the dark.

41% felt the problems in A&E had worsened in the last six months

78% said people who go to A&E due to alcohol-related incidents should have to pay more for treatment

63% said the drinks industry should be levied to help pay for alcohol-related A&E visits

Fianna Fáil were the party most trusted to resolve the A&E crisis but 50% did not believe any of the political parties would succeed

Just over 1,000 adults from across the country were polled at random in the telephone survey conducted by the Red C market research company between Monday and Wednesday this week for the Centre for Insurance Studies at University College Dublin.

Centre Director, Professor Ray Kinsella, will present the findings to the Health Minister when he addresses a meeting of the Progressive Democrats general council in Tullow, Co Carlow today.

“I wanted to be able to say, here is a baseline study, here is the way the Irish public feel the A&E crisis is being handled and here is what the public feel needs to be done about it,” said Prof Kinsella.

“The findings have far-reaching implications for political parties, hospital management and, most of all, for patients.”

The survey revealed that one of the reasons A&E departments were overstretched was that they were clogged with minor injury and ailment cases that should be handled by GPs.

The vast majority, 89%, of all those surveyed said they would prefer to visit a local GP rather than A&E if GPs offered a 24-hour emergency service locally and at no cost.

“We deliberately stressed a “free” service because even if the State had to fund it, it would still be more cost effective to keep them (minor cases) away from A&E rather than have them receive the same treatment by the most expensive means, ie in an acute hospital setting, with all the problems that is causing,” Prof Kinsella said.

When asked for their favoured means of securing increased funding for A&E services, just 12% agreed on a tax hike and 5% approved of government borrowing.