Patients will die if health services are cut, warn opposition parties

Patients will die because of the scale of health cuts being imposed, opposition parties have warned after hospital chiefs voiced grave concerns.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin insisted that a letter from the CEOs of St James’s hospital, Tallaght Hospital, the Mater, and Our Lady’s hospital in Crumlin proved that proposed cuts of up to €1bn were “untenable”.

“Basically, they are saying in a nutshell, that the quality of services and patient-safety are being compromised right now and will be irreparably compromised if these cuts go ahead,” he told TDs. “The system is telling the Taoiseach it can take no more, certainly not cuts of this scale. If they go ahead patients lives will be lost as a result.”

The intervention by the heads of four of the country’s biggest hospitals warning that cuts seriously threatened the quality of service dominated leaders’ questions in the Dáil.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he “rejected” Fianna Fáil’s claim that safety was not a priority for the Government. “It’s a case here of cutting the costs of services, but not the services themselves,” said Mr Kenny.

In a joint letter to the HSE, the hospital chiefs stated: “There is clear evidence that funding reductions coupled with accelerating demand have begun to seriously threaten the quality and safety of patient services.

“This has been reflected in instances of recent emergence of unacceptable delays in treatment access for certain cancer patients due to overwhelming pressures on services which negate application of conventional prioritisation processes and highly publicised sentinel events in the acute system.”

Mr Kenny said he took the letter seriously, but added that the Tallaght and Mater hospitals received a 3% increase in their budgets.

He also insisted he had confidence in embattled Health Minister James Reilly after Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald demanded his resignation.

“Minister Reilly has probably the most difficult task of any minister in this Government given the nature and the complex situation he has to deal with,” the Taoiseach said.