Why downgrade an outstanding medical team?

IN October 2008 my husband and I wrote to the Taoiseach and to Health Minister Mary Harney about our serious concerns for the future of Bantry General Hospital and the devastating effect downgrading would have on those of us living in rural west Cork and south Kerry.

In December we received a reply from the Department of Health and Children which included the following statement: “The National Hospitals Office of the HSE is currently reviewing acute hospital services in the HSE South and has engaged in a process of reconfiguration of hospital services which aims to determine how best the service can be delivered into the future. The surgical and casualty service at Bantry are part of this process. However, no definitive decisions have been taken at this time.”

In November, my husband was admitted to Bantry hospital where he underwent an extremely thorough evaluation and was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from an advanced stage of terminal cancer, so already beyond the possibility of any treatment proving effective and from which, tragically, he has since died.