Oireachtas members to hear of 'dangerous' facilities

Members of the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland (CFAI) will tell TDs and senators at a meeting today of their frustration with the slow rate of progress facing people with the disease because of a lack of dedicated facilities and staff shortfalls.

Last January the Pollock Report by UK consultant Dr Ronnie Pollock found that the majority of Irish adults with cystic fibrosis are being treated in facilities that are "dangerous". Dr Pollock also described as "bleak" the situation in the State's main cystic fibrosis treatment centre at St Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin. The report found that patients were being treated in units with few, if any, isolation facilities, putting them at risk of picking up infections from other patients. The report also showed that staffing levels were only at a quarter of the minimum accepted standard.

The chief executive of the CFAI, Godfrey Fletcher, says that since the publication of the report St Vincent's has received €300,000 towards improving CF services but this is just "a drop in the ocean" compared to what is needed. He adds that with the cap on staff numbers, this funding will have limited impact.

CF is a life-long disease that affects a number of organs in the body, mainly the lungs and pancreas. It is usually diagnosed in the first year of life and it affects males and females. There are more than 1,000 people in Ireland living with the genetic disease.

"There is the highest incidence of cystic fibrosis in the world in Ireland and, as the Pollock report found, the worst levels of care," adds Fletcher.