Plight of CF patients at CUH deplored

I am writing regarding the crisis that is developing in Cork University Hospital.

I attend CUH on a regular basis with my 13-year-old son with Cystic Fibrosis who is given the best of care by the wonderful staff there. The facilities are much less than what is recommended, as people with CF are at risk of cross-infection. Another person passing them in the corridor could pass on a potentially fatal bacteria to them, and there are no isolated, en-suite rooms there.

Whenever he is hospitalised on IV antibiotics I take him to a shopping centre once he has had his dose as there are a lot of people in the shopping centre but fewer sick people than in the hospital.

Build4life/Cystic Fibrosis was set up to fundraise to provide the rooms desperately needed for these patients and has raised €3.4m. This money was to be handed over to the hospital as the work is about to commence, but we need assurance the beds will be predominantly for CF patients as it’s the parents and families, friends of CF patients who raised the money.

Why should we hand over the money without such assurance? We raised it, with no wages being paid out, and no expenses paid out. All monies raised go straight into the B4L bank account. We are at the stage that when one of our children gets sick we are afraid to go to hospital with them. This is madness.

Bridget O’Dwyer

Thurles

Co Tipperary