New hospital posts ‘not a U-turn on planned health reform’

HEALTH Minister Micheál Martin has denied sanctioning new posts at Nenagh Hospital as a ploy to appease the public in the run-up to the local elections.

Rounding on his critics who yesterday accused him of creating “a cynical smokescreen”, Mr Martin said it was not his decision to advertise for emergency care physicians at the Tipperary hospital.

“I wasn’t involved in this other than to sanction it, but I would share the concern of the Mid Western Health Board (MWHB) that you do need to continue with services.” The new physicians will oversee the operation of Nenagh and Ennis A&E units overcoming staffing problems caused, the minister said, by the difficulties for training junior doctors and a soon-to-be-introduced shorter working week. The minister’s critics claim the recruitment decision stems from fears of a backlash at the polls against proposals to downgrade the two hospitals and reduce the A&Es to nurse-led minor injury units, in line with the Hanly Report. The revelation that physicians are now being sought to run the units on a two-year contract has been hailed as a Government climbdown.

However, Mr Martin said the new posts were “something the MWHB has developed on the grounds of correspondence between the Medical Council and the health board”, necessary to maintain A&E services. He said his appearance in Nenagh yesterday where he drew attention to the new posts, easing peoples’ fears that they would lose 24 hour medical cover, was not political opportunism, nor did it represent a U-turn on planned health reform.

“I would argue we are strictly within Hanly. I would equally argue that there has been a lot of commentary about the Government and myself and I would equally argue that there’s been precious little commentary on the degree to which the Hanly Report has been hijacked from day one by political interests to enhance their own political situation. I am talking about the Labour Party and the Fine Gael Party.” The minister said it was “not a crime” for a minister to go to a region two months prior to an election, that he was “entitled to argue the toss” with opposition politicians critical of health reform. He also said he would be happy for the regional group looking at ways of implementing Hanly in the midwest to arrive at local solutions for providing 24-hour medical cover, within the constraints of the shorter junior doctor working week.