Health authority withholding funds, claims nurses group

THE Irish Nurses Organisation has accused the Eastern Regional Health Authority of withholding funds and denying patients basic health care.

In a strongly worded statement issued following a meeting yesterday of its executive council, the INO called on the authority to immediately release all funds at its disposal.

INO general secretary Liam Doran said the organisation was convinced that, instead of improving the management of the capital's health system, the ERHA has proved itself "to be a wholly unnecessary administrative layer of pointless bureaucracy".

"The INO feels the ERHA, with its emphasis on studies and analysis, demonstrates on a daily basis that it is wholly unaware of the plight of patients being denied the basics of health care and the resulting stresses upon frontline staff who seek to maintain patients' dignity and high standards of care in intolerable working situations."

Mr Doran cited the recent overcrowding in Beaumont Hospital's A&E department as the latest example of unnecessary administration delaying the delivery of direct patient care.

"The ERHA's response was to allow the opening of 16 of the 45 closed beds in Beaumont Hospital and to confirm that it had €3.8 million available to transfer patients, currently in Beaumont, to other more appropriate beds in the greater Dublin area.

"The ERHA's reaction begs the question why were these funds not made available before the overcrowding in Beaumont occurred? The INO now calls upon the ERHA to stop analysing and examining and to distribute all funds available to it to health agencies immediately so that:

* all acute beds in the greater Dublin area can be reopened (200 remain closed);

* the silent invisible cuts in community services can be reversed;

* assessed patients can be transferred from acute hospitals to other more appropriate non-acute/step down facilities."

The ERHA responded by saying it was "saddened at the unwarranted attack on its work made by Mr Liam Doran. Throughout the year we have continued to act as an advocate on behalf of the health services in the region and have been successful in obtaining extra funding for the services. We regret the needless anxiety which may be caused to patients and their families by Mr Doran's statement.

" the acute hospitals in the eastern region are providing a higher level of service than they provided last year, and we would like to pay tribute to this achievement by the management and all the staff of the hospitals."

The statement said it was inaccurate of Mr Doran to suggest the ERHA was retaining money. It criticised him for making a public statement before first raising the issues directly with the authority.