No CF unit 10 years after patient photo

A WOMAN with cystic fibrosis (CF) was asked to pose for a photograph 10 years ago at a site earmarked for new treatment facilities which have yet to be developed.

Maria Carberry was attending St Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH) for a check-up when a PR company asked her to pose at the proposed location for a new dedicated CF unit. A decade later, the unit has yet to be built.

Maria, known as Ria, was a caller to RTÉ’s Liveline programme yesterday where controversy over the lack of dedicated facilities for people with the life-threatening disease has played out over the past number of days.

She does not know where the photograph subsequently appeared and does not have a copy herself. Ironically, 28-year-old Ria, from Slieverue, Co Kilkenny, is back in SVUH after coughing up blood recently during a course of treatment involving intravenous antibiotics. She is in St John’s Ward, a general ward, rather than in isolation.

“I should really be in my own room to minimise the risk of infection, because CF makes us more susceptible to infection. In the past, I used to be terrified coming into St Vincent’s and was ready to take any antibiotics in order to remain at home, but I am probably one of the better-off patients with CF. The last time I was in hospital was a year ago.”

The lack of isolation facilities at SVUH for CF patients was condemned in a report by British consultant Dr Ronnie Pollock in 2005. The report said the lack of segregation and isolation for CF patients in the hospital was “dangerous”.

The Health Service Executive has said new en suite rooms will be provided at St Vincent’s for CF patients, but this will take two years. Building of a 120-bed unit is due to commence this year.

Yesterday a spokesman for SVUH denied the hospital’s chief executive Nicky Jermyn was blocked by the HSE from speaking on Liveline. He said Mr Jermyn made the decision himself because he felt the HSE had covered any ground he would have covered in the past number of days. The spokesman pointed out that it was a national issue and should not be confined to facilities at SVUH.