Community healthcare hit by HSE cutbacks
Cardiovascular nursing services in the community are being shelved and baby developmental checks postponed in different pockets across the country, according to parents and TDs.
A community nursing service aimed at cutting deaths from heart attack, stroke and other vascular diseases has been temporarily halted in Co Cork due to lack of funding.
But just last week, Health Minister Mary Harney launched the country’s new Changing Cardiovascular Health strategy, aimed at further reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease, which is the most common cause of death in Ireland, accounting for 36% of all deaths.
Also last week it was revealed that the community welfare office in Kinsale has been temporarily closed.
This was the second unannounced closure of the centre in two months.
According to Fine Gael, up to 20 people were queuing outside the office on one day last week – unaware that the office wouldn’t open.
Meanwhile, in the Dublin South City HSE area, parents strongly criticised the HSE for temporarily stopping developmental checks which are normally carried out on babies at between six and 18 months.
At these checks, hearing, sight, physical development and early speech are monitored.
According to Labour Health Spokesperson Jan O’Sullivan: “The heart is being torn out of the community health system.
“This mightn’t be the political talking point that trolleys in A&Es are but it is affecting everyone. A service is there one minute and gone the next,” she said.
Ms O’Sullivan said that 53 families in the mid-west had been affected by the decision to shut respite houses run by the Brothers of Charity at Bawnmore.
She said that baby injections and developmental checks were also being put on the long finger in the mid-west.
In Glanmire, one of the biggest suburbs outside Cork city, a cardiovascular public health nursing service at St Stephen’s Hospital has been temporarily removed due to a lack of resources. Up to 400 patients use this service each year.
According to the HSE, the cutbacks to the service are temporary as public health staff had to be moved on to the H1N1 vaccination campaign. They also blamed a lack of staff for the closure of baby development clinics in Dublin.
“During a brief peak period, when there was unusually high sick-leave levels coupled with maternity leave, we were unable to reach all those on our planned itinerary; therefore temporary adjustments were required. The situation has now been rectified and we expect the service to return to its normal pattern within one month,” a spokeswoman said.
