‘I cannot make head nor tail of the HSE’

OPPOSITION leaders last night seized on remarks by Minister Eamon Ó Cuív that he could not make “head nor tail” of the HSE as they laid into the Government’s health record.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said Mr Ó Cuív’s comments had exposed the true “shambolic” state of the health service.

The Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister said he found the HSE impossible to deal with as it was inefficient and difficult to get information out of.

“I just cannot make head nor tail of the HSE as an organisation,” he told Newstalk.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern refused to be drawn on Mr Ó Cuív’s comments when they were raised in the Dáil.

Mr Gilmore said Mr Ahern was trying to “drown out” the suffering of patients with figures and hiding behind the bureaucracy of the HSE.

“Mr Ó Cuív stated the HSE is an impossible organisation with which to deal and that he can make neither head nor tail of it. He was a member of the Cabinet that invented, designed, framed and legislated for the HSE and brought it into being. If he can make neither head nor tail of it, what chance has a patient who is trying to get an operation, a parent who is trying to get an appointment with a speech therapist, or a carer who is trying to get home help and finds it impossible to penetrate the maze?” Mr Gilmore asked.

Mr Ahern said that waiting times had been cut back and accused Labour and Fine Gael of talking down a health service which was doing a good job with record resources.