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Keeping you up to date with the recent news
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| Roscommon On The March issued 15-Aug-2010 | reply to | A big number turned out for the Protest organised by the Roscommon Hospital Action Group on Saturday, August 14th. There is obviously an anger there and a willingness to fight this to the end. Of course the HSE gave the usual reply - 'there are no plans at present to completely close Roscommon Hospital'. This will fool some of the people into believing that Roscommon Hospital is safe. How many times did HSE officials, Health Board officials and Government Ministers and TDs tell the people of Monaghan that they had no plans to close the hospital? How many times were the people of Monaghan promised extra consultants, staff and equipment? Where are those promises now? Perhaps the people of Roscommon should recall what happened to our promises.
For the past couple of years their hospital has been reprieved by the intercession of Michael Finneran, Fianna Fail TD for the area. He secured the hospital services at the time of the last General Election through Bertie and Mary. Now there is no way they can claim that the decision to close, downgrade or enhance any hospital is taken on any basis other than political expediency and when we apply that to our own situation we can only ask - where were/are our Fianna Fail representatives who have let us down in such a serious matter?
The people of Roscommon and other areas know now that the predictions of our chairman, Peadar McMahon, given in 2003, are coming true all over the country and many are now regretting that they did not join forces with Monaghan. We say it is never too late and on that note we would once again warn the people of Cavan that the fate of their Hospital will be determined soon.
Roscommon are giving serious consideration to the possibility of entering a Hospital Candidate in the next General Election. We would suggest that all areas under threat should do likewise as Independents could then hold the balance of power, which we think will be needed to persuade other parties to change the policy and restore the public health services in our public hospitals. Even then it might be too late as the Private Investors will have gained a stranglehold on our health services which will not be easily wrestled from them.Back to Top | | Goodbye Mallow issued 09-Aug-2010 | reply to | Having read the terms of reference for the investigation of Mallow Hospital it is clear to us that this is the method used to produce a report recommending the removal of A & E, Critical Care and emergency surgery from Mallow, thereby reducing it to a day hospital with clinics. This will be the outcome of this review. The terms of reference make it impossible for them to come to any other conclusion since this is a replica of Ennis. One solution which would be to staff the hospital appropriately and modernise the equipment and structure of the hospital, will not be a viable proposal since the hospital has been starved of resources over the past two decades. So 'lets remove the services as they are unsafe for patients'. We heard it here in Monaghan, in Ennis, in Nenagh, in Dundalk, in Navan and more to come. That is the way these unaccountable and faceless instruments of the Government work - the HSE and HIQA.
If we put this along with the revelations in HSE West we can see just what is driving this agenda - certainly not the patient but there are vested interests at work here and the public has been lulled into acceptance by the constant 'spin' of 'patient safety' and 'better services'. Before long we will discover the real consequences of current policy and we sholud be ashamed of the type of health servcies we are leaving for our children.Back to Top | | Frustrating issued 07-Aug-2010 | reply to | It is so frustrating to see what is happening and what could have been done had people believed the warning given by the Monaghan Alliance. How often have we foretold that the number of acute in-patient hospitals in Ireland would be reduced to 12. All the others would be as Monaghan is now or closed completely. We told Roscommon, Ennis, Nenagh, Ballinasloe, Wexford, Clonmel, Loughlinstown, Portlaoise (When Brian Cowen goes), Castlebar, Bantry, Mallow, Cavan, Sligo, Navan, Dundalk, etc etc and it is happening or has happened. Why did they not stand with us and stop it at an early stage? Why did they believe thier Fianna Fail TDs and Senators, why could they not see through the double speak of the HSE and Government, why did they not see through the constant spew of 'spin' from the highly paid spindoctors? Why did the media succumb to the spin and assist the Government and HSE to convince the public that they were implementing a good policy when it is now proving to be a total failure? Letterkenny can protest and march, Mallow can protest and march, Clonmel can protest and march, Wexford can protest and march and Cavan can keep its head down but the same fate is now in store for all - downgrading for all and complete closure for some.
There is only one thing to stop the wildfire - join together and have mass protests and make it clear that the people of Ireland do not agree with the policy being pursued by this Government in order to privatise the Health Services of this country because that is what is happening and the reason why it is happening. The planning permission for the new Beacon Hospital in Sandyford is a clear example, the planning for the new private Clinic for the North East, the private involvement in the setting up of Primary Care centres. Once the Private sector kills off the Public service then the prices will go through the roof and only those with money will be able to afford treatment while, for certain eligible citizens, the tax payer will pay the private fees. Is that what you want?Back to Top | | What Kind of Nation are we? issued 03-Aug-2010 | reply to | We must be one of the meekest nations on earth to put up with what is happening in this country. Different action would have ensued in other countries long ago. However we just sit back in armchairs or bar stools and criticise, complain, threaten what we would do, lambast, run down, talk endlessly, point the finger, claim to have the answers, castigate, condemn, slate, belittle, ridicule, mock, blame and all the while do nothing except expect others to do it. I refer particularly to our Health Service and the public service at that.
When they were taking services away from Monaghan they gave the world to believe that unless it was done immediately then many people would suffer because of the unsafe situation in Monaghan Hospital. It had to be done straight away for patient safety and to provide better services. We knew that this was totally false but the HSE set themselves up as the champion of the patient - making things better and safer and our leaders backed them up. How could meer mortal be right in the face of such opposition?
But we were right and now a report, carried out for the HSE themselves, shows that there are more patients suffering, that there are longer waiting lists, that there are more mistakes, that services have disimproved, that the old are not getting proper care, - all the things we already knew but were told we were wrong. This is the HSE who was so concerned for our safety and our 'unsafe services' that they have now succeeded in making them worse. This is the HSE, put in place by Mary Harney and led by Prof, Drumm, who keep telling us that the Health services have improved? This is the HSE, Minister and CEO who seem to be deaf to the real stories from patients, from doctors or from families as they pursue and chase after a dream which for us is a nightmare. Not only that but they are prepared to even make it worse by cutting more money and cutting more services and cutting more frontline staff and adding more names to the list of sufferers. They seem prepared to allow frontline and essential services be cut/curtailed/downgraded/centralised/privatised - all to achieve the impossible dream.
How sad it all is but is anyone prepared to do anything?Back to Top | | The inarticulate will carry the burden. issued 01-Aug-2010 | reply to | I quote from Michael Clifford in Sunday, August 1 Sunday Tribune: 'the capacity to wield power rather than the contribution one makes to society defines who prospers and who struggles' and 'Those who can shout loudest, who wield the greatest power will be least discommoded (in the forth coming cuts by Government). Others, who suffer in quiet desperation will have to take their medicine'.
That sums it up and is something that has been proven time and time again. The Old Age Pensioners proved that point. If enough people shout loud enough then the Government will listen - otherwise take your medicine.
Too often throughout our campaign for Monaghan Hospital we called on people to come out and they did in what was referred to as big numbers but when taken as a percentage of the numbers of people who were going to be discommoded these numbers were small. When it came to shouting the loudest - we were whispering. When it came to wielding power - we were sucking instead of blowing.
The administrators in the HSE have strong Unions to represent them, the Doctors and Consultants have strong Unions, the Nurses have strong Unions but Carers have no Union, Home Help has no Union, parents have no Union, bereaved families have no Union, and the patients have no Union. The Unions will shout for their members but who will shout for patients?
Since 2002 we have been urging people from other threatened areas to get behind the campaign and stop it before it found its own dynamo but no - they left it to others. Peadar McMahon addressed public meetings in Roscommon, Ballinasloe, Ennis, Nenagh, Clonmel, Portlaoise etc etc but was told he was wrong - that it would never happen to them. Is he still wrong? We have told the people of Cavan and we tell them again - you need to start shouting with Monaghan as you are going down too. The staff will tell you that the writing is on the wall. Three weeks ago Paudge Connolly in Monaghan called on our two Fianna Fail TDs to resign. We have heard not a squeak since, we heard none of the other Independent candidates back the call, we heard nothing from other voices who have been vociferous for the hospital in the past, we have heard nothing from Fine Gael or are they afraid that they will support something which could backfire on them if/when they get into power? Again if the shout was loud enough, if enough people joined the call - we may not have to take the medicine. Back to Top | | NHS and HSE issued 12-Jul-2010 | reply to | There is such a likeness between what is happening in the NHS in England and the HSE here in Ireland. There are various groups fighting the privatisation of the NHS and there should be a greater fight here in Ireland but the Government has been able to isolate each area and the result is that each area is fighting their own little battle and have little hope of success but if all were to come together then there would be a very strong lobby. We have tried through the HSAG to get other areas to come together and Wexford are now trying to do the same thing but not enough areas realise the seriousness of what is happening. Again we call on Cavan people to sit down and talk to us about the future because the future for Cavan is 'downgrading' and of that there is no doubt. Just speak off the record to members of Cavan staff and you will soon realise what is happening, under cloaks at the moment but when they are ready they will pounce on the services in Cavan and then the Cavan people will say - why did we not listen.
You see this country has been running on untruths and stealth. The public has been convinced by the Government spin doctors and accept what they are told without question. The sooner the questions are put and truthful answers received the better for our future.
However we give you here anextract from a document produced by the Campaigners in England and we should listen to them as we are on the same road but a few miles behind them. There are turn-offs that they missed but we would need to take. Who will lead us onto this new road?
Extract:
Responding to today's publication of the NHS white paper, the health pressure group, NHS Support Federation, accused the government of favouring commercial business over patients and cast doubt on plans to save money by restructuring.
Federation director Paul Evans said:
"Patient power will be overwhelmed by the influence of unaccountable companies. No matter what individual patients want, profit-motivated firms will now have a huge say in what care is available and much of the fairness, value and public trust in the traditional NHS will be lost."
"GP commissioning will create a spaghetti-like snarl of conflicting interests, where profit will inevitably come before patients. Paying companies to spend the huge NHS budget on other companies is a recipe for scandalous waste and the sort of shady deals that the public must be protected from."Back to Top | | Leadership in England? issued 06-Jul-2010 | reply to | Unite will work with KONP to defend services
Trade union, Unite, passed a resolution at its conference in early June naming KONP as one of the organisations it would work with to defend the welfare state and public services. The motion said (in part): "This conference believes that public services are a social necessity and should not be a vehicle for private profit. The fight for public provision of public services is fundamental to the industrial strategy of Unite, not just part of a political wish-list...
"[Unite will] build the biggest possible campaign in defence of public services, seeking to publicise and build this fight across Unite as a whole. Unite will play a leading role in organising a coalition of unions, public service campaigners (such as Defend Council Housing and Keep Our NHS Public) pensioners, disability, patients, unemployed and other such groups to take action to defend the Welfare State and public services . . . , while not limiting our own campaign where other organisations do not fully share our policies."
Back to Top | | Dear Dear Deer. issued 29-Jun-2010 | reply to | The real truth is being proven once again – patients don’t matter but deer do. The Greens and this Government hopes to put an end to deer hunting as it causes distress and stress to the deer. However removing acute health services from within reaching distance of humans is OK. Forcing sick people to travel to distant hospitals for treatment, forcing people to drive long distances to be with their loved ones who are ill, forcing patients to attend hospitals which are overflowing already, forcing patients to lie on trolleys in corridors while hospital beds lie idle in Monaghan, forcing patients in dire need of urgent treatment to suffer a long journey and risk dying on the way, forcing people to pay the extra costs involved in travelling to these distant hospitals, forcing the elderly and the young to go to strange environments with strange carers miles from home, forcing people to accept an advanced paramedic as an alternative to A & E and then doubling the area to be covered by that paramedic thus putting more people at risk, – these are all ‘better services’ and totally appropriate methods of providing health services according to this Government. Such treatment would not be acceptable for animals and the Greens would be first to say so.
This is the Green Party which gave assurances in writing to the people of Monaghan prior to the last election that they would ensure that services were not downgraded in Monaghan General Hospital. This is the Green Party which is so concerned about carbon footprints and carbon emissions yet make the people of Monaghan drive further and further to access acute health services in distant hospitals and at the same time put a carbon tax on fuel. This is a Green Party so concerned about the environment that they have extra ambulances driving about our roads. This is a Government which listened to experts yet allowed this country go into meltdown economically. This is a Government which will bail out banks, building societies and developers but not sick people. This is a Government that will make the poor poorer and the rich richer.
It will also make the sick sicker with the type of health policy they are pursuing. This is a Government being led astray by ‘health experts’ who will benefit from the new transformation programmes. This is a Government doing untold damage to our health services – damage which will take decades to rectify.
Yet the people of this country are more concerned about wild life and hunting, or so it seems from the amount of time that has been spent in the Dail, in the media, and at various meetings, discussing the issue of deer hunting. Meanwhile the health services continue to blunder along. Services are removed from Dundalk exposing the people of Carlingford and the Cooley peninsula to serious risk at times of emergency. Monaghan has already suffered that fate but we did not get the ‘better services’ that we were promised. Our excellent in-patient medical services are gone. Our saviour in times of heart attacks is gone and now our ‘advanced paramedic’ will in future be based at Castleblayney. This is to share the paramedic with North Louth. Now it has been with a prayer that only one call-out at a time has happened in Monaghan so far but sooner or later the paramedic will be needed in two places at one time but where will he/she go? Sooner or later the paramedic will be needed in Clara but he/she will have to travel from Castleblayney or North Louth. What hope for the Clara patient? Perhaps they will demand what Doc-on-call does – take the patient to meet the paramedic in Castleblayney.
And they try to tell us that this is a ‘better service’? They try to tell us that this is ‘safer for the patient’? They try to convince us that what they are doing is ‘good for us’? There have been too many lives lost and extra trauma and suffering for us to believe them any more – but then they have the support of the Minister and this Government and these people who are making these decisions and making others implement them are untouchable, lacking in accountability and have no mandate from the people of Ireland to do what they are doing. We need a Government which will take control of the affairs of this country and make decisions that will benefit people first and, when that’s done, we can then look at the animals.
Members of the Alliance, with party representatives from Monaghan County Council, met with Dr. James O’Reilly, Health spokesperson for Fine Gael on Monday night last. Earlier in the evening he had visited Monaghan General Hospital and met with administrative staff there. He was informed of all the enhanced services there – physiotherapy, Speech therapy, and a whole host of therapies but he was not impressed. He stated to us that acute medical services with an Acute Coronary Care Unit was essential for Monaghan and that Fine Gael, if in power, would work towards returning those services to Monaghan. However he did warn that it would get more difficult to do so as time went on and that two years hence it might be too late to be able to restore the services. We hope that this is party policy as we were given to understand from a previous interview by the Northern Standard with Enda Kenny that Fine Gael would not restore these services. Since the Alliance came into existence in 2002 we have been fed promise after promise by many people but we still lost our acute in-patient services. At this stage we cannot allow our hopes to be raised again unless we see practical evidence of a promise being fulfilled.
Back to Top | | Cuts and More Cuts issued 10-May-2010 | reply to | Money is the ruling king in this country and it matters not who must suffer and how serious that suffering is as long as someone somewhere sees it as a means of saving money to be spent on something else it will happen. It happened in Monaghan - purely to save money which has not happened. The present system is costing more money but it is also costing the patients of Monaghan and their families more money top pay for transport to and from a distant hospital. These costs have risen further recently with the introduction of the Carbon Tax on fuel. As we said before they make patients and families travel further to get hospital services and they clutter the roads with ambulances and doctors travelling about and this is all adding to the carbon emissions which they are trying to cut down on and are charging us extra because we are doing the journeys. What a contradiction.
Beds being closed in hospitals like Beaumont which needs more beds, not less, and many other areas the same thing happening and we are only at month 5 of the current budget year. wait till we get to October!!
Now the European Working Time Directive is kicking in and there are not enough Junior doctors to keep services going. They knew about this eight years ago and did nothing about it except change the Consultant Contract but that was not sufficient to make up for the loss of Junior Doctors. Now the scarcity of doctors is a good way of closing services and the blame can be pointed elsewhere than at the Minister or Government.
The scarcity of money is the other excuse for closing services and hospitals and the A & Es are in line for the chop. Loughlinstown is going to close within weeks and more to follow. If any hospital or group asks the HSE if their local hospital is in danger the answer they get is - there are no plans to close services in your hospital. That means - we are going to do it in a couple of weeks and then try to draw up a plan. That seems to be the way they work. How many times were we told that 'there are no plans to downgrade Monaghan Hospital' yet look what happened.
Every hospital area needs a Michael Finneran. He has saved Roscommon Hospital. They are afraid to touch it because he made a pact with Mary Harney and his party. Oh that we could have solid representation to act likewise and put our case like Michael did. He need not worry about a General Election - he will top the polls for what he has done for his area.
The other hospitals are playing little games quietly to save their own skin. In 2002/2003 we had representation from the Group to Save Loughlinstown Hospital as part of the National Group - HSAG. They disappeared sometime around 2005 on a promise that their hospital would never be closed and they believed what they were promised. We told them of the promises made by Minister Michael Martin and Bertie Ahern and our own TDs but they could not be convinced that promises change direction just like the Volcanic Ash in our skies and, when it comes in your direction, all closes down. Clonmel and Ballinasloe have gone so guiet - why we ask? Have they been promised too? Then all this protesting is old news and media need something fresh and dramatic to catch the readers eye and the spindoctors continue to issue their blurb and the media prints.
Back to Top | | The ‘HSE and YOU’ and me. issued 10-May-2010 | reply to | In last week’s edition of the Northern Standard there was an article regarding the public consultation document issued by the HSE ‘seeking the input from people from all parts of society as part of a public consultation for the development of a ‘Patient Charter’ for the health services’. It is entitled – ‘HSE and You’ and I asked myself – who is this ‘YOU’ they are referring to. However I decided to read on.
It claims – ‘this public consultation is an opportunity to have your views heard and to contribute to a new Patient Charter that will define what service users can expect from the HSE and what the HSE can expect from service users’. Now when did the HSE ever ask me what I thought of anything to do with the health services before, though I did offer my opinion regularly. However, and more importantly, they have never before listened to my views and have totally ignored my expectations and the expectations of the majority of the people of Monaghan. Not only that but they continue to ignore our expectations and those of the people from many other areas of this country, like Clonmel, Ballinasloe, Loughlinstown, Mallow, Bantry, and many others. The one exception is Roscommon where they did a U-Turn after listening to the representations made by the now Minister, Michael Finneran. No one has challenged the HSE or the Government on yielding to Minister Finneran and ignoring the rest of us.
The article goes on to tell us that this document ‘aims to inform and empower individuals, families and communities to actively look after their own health and to influence quality care in Ireland’. Yes of course they want us to look after our own health. They want to close down hospitals and make them a thing of the past. Let families treat their own sick at home and learn how to carry out the basic life saving procedures and if the patient dies – well everyone dies eventually. They introduce another aspect of current policy – ‘arrangements for a partnership of care between everyone involved in healthcare – patients, families, carers, and healthcare providers’. Notice that the healthcare providers are mentioned last. That is in keeping with policy that, in the vast majority of cases, patients should be treated at home and that family must accept responsibility.
They tell us that this document has been developed by the HSE, the Department of H and C; in consultation with patient advocates. We have wondered before where these patient advocates come from as we never seem to be able to find out who was consulted.
The article names nine key areas of responsibility and the first is ‘access’ – something they removed from the people of Monaghan. If any of you decide to fill in this questionnaire then it is your opportunity to let them know that they have already removed your access to hospital care without any consultation – in fact against the wishes of the people of Monaghan as demonstrated ostensibly on numerous occasions.
I could respond to all other eight areas but it would be futile as the HSE are masters at ambiguity but I will point to two more – ‘respect’ and ‘being heard’. The wishes of the people of Monaghan were not heard or respected and that makes this document suspect as I have no trust that anything that might be written in this questionnaire will be respected and listened to. The seven areas for patients are similar but then who is listening?
The HSE Director of Advocacy tells us in the article that much consultation from many quarters has already been incorporated into the document and now the public at large will have an opportunity to make their contribution and have a say in how health services are delivered. I am convinced that the public contribution will be overwhelmed by the contribution of ‘experts’ as these ‘experts’ have framed policy in health during the past decade or more.
Not ever person will have their say here, as you have to be able to go on-line to a web site to answer the questions or you can go on-line and print out the questionnaire and then fill it in and post it back to the HSE. Surely that is removing the possibility of contributing from a huge number of people? Not everyone has a computer, not everyone is computer literate, not everyone is on-line, not everyone has the confidence to read and answer the type of questions contained in this document, but then not everyone has equal access to health care either.
Peadar McMahon
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