Health service cuts - Pain will be felt all over

The first tangible plan to cope with the exodus of workers from the health service could hardly be more negative.

In terms of cutbacks, it will have a severe impact on the population of the HSE South, a region covering Cork, Kerry, Waterford, South Tipperary, Carlow, Kilkenny, and Wexford.

Almost every area of healthcare will be adversely affected. The impact of headline cuts of €115m will be acutely felt by patients in hospitals, which lose €28m, resulting in 93 bed closures.

Unacceptable cuts will also hit primary care, as well as elderly people and people relying on mental health and disability services. Only the childcare service gains, presumably because that is political dynamite.

Having shed 4,500 staff since 2007, a further 736 more people go under the retirement scheme, bringing to 900 those lost since September. No regional health service can endure cuts on this scale without having a major impact on people’s health. Finance is taking precedence over healthcare. And this is merely the tip of a national iceberg.