Conference focus on hospital closures

MORE than one-third of all public patient beds in Ireland are set to close over the next six years. This will enable private investors to make money from the sick and the dying.

A national health conference is being held tomorrow in Dublin’s Liberty Hall to highlight the implications of these hospital closures.

Conference speakers will include Prof Allyson Pollock, University of Edinburgh, Dr John Barton, consultant physician, Portiuncula Hospital, Co Galway, former TD Joe Higgins, Peadar McMahon, chairman of Monaghan Community Alliance, midwife Philomena Canning and others.

Blinded by the rhetoric of ‘best practice’ and ‘centres of excellence’, the public is being asked to roll over and lie down while up to 23 hospital A&Es and eight maternity units are closed under various guises, such as ‘patient safety’.

We are on the road towards a US-style system of healthcare where not even those who can afford to pay will be guaranteed appropriate care.

This conference aims to kick-start a campaign for a sustainable public health service driven not by business interests, but by the common good.

Entrance is free and all are welcome. (Doors open at 10.30am).

Marie O’Connor

42 Rathdown Road

Dublin 7