Decision to keep media out of HSE meeting criticised

MEMBERS of the HSE South Health Forum have criticised the decision to exclude the media from yesterday’s discussion of the HSE’s “cost containment measures”.

A joint committee meeting of the regional health forum yesterday voted, by nine votes to eight, not to suspend standing orders to allow members of the press to report on the discussions.

The meeting was instead held in private, as HSE bosses responded to alleged cuts in health services across the south and south-east.

Fine Gael councillor Tim Lombard, who proposed the standing orders suspension, described as “unbelievable” the vote to keep the media out.

“I think it was an unfortunate situation to have the whole thing taking place behind closed doors.”

He also criticised the HSE officials for putting “the onus on us”, the members, “to come up with bed by bed closures, which is absolutely impossible”.

“We were hoping to get clarity to the entire health issue, but we came out of it with very little information. It’s very disappointing that, after a meeting lasting three- and-a-half hours, there’s little clarity regarding the situation.”

Labour Party leader in the forum, Cllr John Gilroy, who supported the motion calling for the media to be allowed to report on the meeting, said “all matters of public concern should be addressed publicly” but pointed out that the vote had not followed party lines.

He called for a “full and rigorous” examination of the HSE’s “cost-containment measures” and said that the amount of detail presented by officials at the meeting would “take a long time to digest”.