Ward closures putting children's lives at risk, warns Kenny

Sick children’s lives are being put at risk because health chiefs are shutting down hospital wards rather than cutting back on obscene wastage, it was warned today.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny accused Health Service Executive (HSE) bosses of driving daft policies that will partially close the country’s main children’s hospital for much of the year.

Misplaced cost-cutting was targeting vital services at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin instead of inefficiencies in the running of the health service, he said.

The result will be the closure of an operation theatre from July to December, two theatres and 20 beds being shut down during July and August as well as serious cutbacks in outpatient services.

“I don’t believe for a moment that there are not areas within the HSE that should be a priority for a greater saving than this,” he told Taoiseach Brian Cowen in the Dáil.

The Opposition leader said the temporary closure of some services at Crumlin was creating stress for parents throughout the country.

“There seems to me to be a completely daft monetary policy in respect of hospitals in the HSE, when the first thing that happens is wards have to close, operations are cancelled, critically ill children’s lives are put at risk and all of that stress that goes along with that,” he said.

Mr Kenny said evidence given to him by some people working for the HSE revealed “absolutely obscene” wastage in some areas.

“Here you have a situation where a children’s hospital measures up in terms of efficiency, standards and quality and yet it is going to be [partially] closed down for large sections of this year because of a budgetary overrun,” he said.

“We cannot stand by a position in 2009 where critically ill children are not able to be treated in a hospital that has the doctors, the staff, the facilities to do so.”

The Fine Gael leader demanded to know was there any other area within the HSE where cutbacks could be made first.

Mr Cowen said there was no question of urgent and emergency cases not being dealt with at the Crumlin children’s hospital.

“The question of wards or beds being closed for the summer is a feature of our acute hospital system,” he said.

The Taoiseach said the hospital was delivering more treatment to patients than it was last year, while the Government was trying to improve efficiencies to free up more money for services.

The hospital’s budget had increased by about 40% over the last five years although it dropped by about 3% last year, he told the Dáil.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Mary Harney strongly rejected claims that Crumlin is under-funded and dismissed comparisons with the leading UK paediatric care centre, Birmingham Hospital.

In a statement the Minister said Crumlin’s budget was €144m in 2008 treating 10,620 in-patients and she went on to provide a breakdown of services.

Crumlin has 1,641 staff dealing with 6.6 in-patient cases per person.

Temple Street, Crumlin and Tallaght paediatric services have a combined budget of 250m euro – Birmingham has €212m.

Dublin’s three hospitals have 478 beds, Birmingham has 280, yet that city treats more patients.

“I mention these facts to illustrate that our task in Ireland is to do much better with the available resources – an entirely achievable goal,” the minister said.

“But it is not helped by opportunistic criticisms about an alleged lack of resources. By re-organising services, bringing some together, and doing more in the community rather than in hospitals, we can provide both better care, and more care, within a given level of resources.”

Health chiefs at Crumlin have come under fire over cutbacks and particularly the plight of an 11-year-old girl from Co Kilkenny, Jamie Murphy, whose parents have been forced to raise money to send her to Great Ormond St Hospital, London for a potentially life-saving operation.

Jamie, who doctors fear may only have six months to live, suffers from spina bifida and scoliosis but cannot be operated on in Crumlin due to cutbacks.

Ms Harney said clinical decisions are for medics only.

“No minister is involved in this, nor should any minister be. These decisions are clinical judgments made on the basis of the patient’s condition, which is confidential, and should remain so,” she said.

“The hospital has clearly stated that no child has been denied access to emergency life-saving surgery due to the hospital’s financial break-even programme for 2009.

“In general, and away from any particular case, it cannot be assumed that the reason why a particular operation does not proceed at a specific time is due to budget constraints.”