Life and death issue for hospital
Medical staffs of all grades in Ennis have stated that at least 20 deaths would occur each year without a 24-hour A&E service.
Ennis hospital is currently under assessment by the Mid-Western Hanly Report Implementation Group. The Hanly report proposed to designate Ennis as a local hospital with a limited 12- hour A&E service.
The minister advises our committee to meet the implementation group. How such a meeting of opposites is likely to achieve anything is a mystery.
Recently, Mr Hanly’s services have been dispensed with, but is his report to be implemented in full?
The previous Health Minister, Micheál Martin, had agreed to meet our committee on production of an alternative report. We commissioned and launched the Bradley report in May 2004.
The report sets out the medical, financial, demographic and moral case for retaining A&E in Ennis.
Unfortunately, the present minister deems it unfit to honour the commitment of her predecessor.
In May 2004 the UK Independent Reconfiguration Panel were invited by the Department of Health and Children to review the Hanly report. The panel visited Ennis last July.
They responded in September: “There is no reason for hospitals such as Ennis to close, or be downgraded. Indeed, the imaginative use of role redesign and of new technology, including telemedicine and remote diagnosis, can breathe new life into hospitals like Ennis.”
I am unaware of any response by the Department of Health to this report.
The Government promised an investment of e20.9 million to improve Ennis hospital four years ago. This promise was renewed during the local and European elections in 2004. To date no action has been taken.
The minister frequently champions private medicine. The private hospitals do not provide A&E services. The removal of 24-hour A&E from Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s Hospital, Limerick, will require the doubling of the A&E department at Limerick Regional Hospital. The three hospitals referred to show greater cost effectiveness than Limerick Regional Hospital.
In addition, the Hanly report has not been costed.
The national health strategy aspires to aim for “a health system that supports and empowers you, your family and community to achieve your full health potential. A health system that is there when you need it, that is fair and that you can trust. A health system that encourages you to have your say, listens to you and ensures that your views are taken into account”.
Our committee is perplexed as to the understanding of concepts of democracy and administration of public funds currently held in the Department of Health.
Peadar McNamara,
PRO
Ennis General Hospital Development Committee
Magowna
Inch
Co Clare
