Harney appeal to hospital consultant

Minister for Health Mary Harney has appealed to a Donegal consultant who said he has virtually no work to do at Letterkenny General Hospital to “look for solutions” instead of “always identifying problems”.

Senior orthopaedic consultant Peter O’Rourke had said that although he was earning €225,000 a year, he had “nothing to do” because of cutbacks. The surgeon said he was unable to carry out elective procedures at the hospital, such as hip and knee replacements, because the hospital had postponed them due to budgetary overruns.

Ms Harney said she did not accept Mr O’Rourke had nothing to do.

“There are waiting lists for outpatient appointments at Letterkenny Hospital, perhaps that consultant and others could apply themselves to seeing those outpatients,” she said. “I would appeal to the consultant in question to talk with the hospital, his colleagues in the hospital and hospital management to resolve whatever issues arise on the ground.”

She said people needed to be pragmatic about the approach they adopted. “I would urge everybody in this time of huge economic challenges to look at solutions and not to be always identifying problems,” she said.

Ms Harney said there was no more money for the health service this year and there would be less money next year.

“Over €1 billion in reductions will be required in the provision of the public health services next year,” she said.

“I would urge everybody that at this time of national and economic crisis, particularly with the flu pandemic and the challenges that poses to the health system, to look at finding solutions working on the ground.”

She said solutions could not be “imposed from the top”.

“I can’t impose a solution from Dublin… only the people that work in the hospital can solve those problems within the budget that is available this year,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the Health Service Executive (HSE) said Letterkenny General Hospital was legally obliged to remain within budget. The HSE said it would be undertaking very few hip and knee replacement for a number of weeks to ensure funding could be prioritised in critical areas like cancer, dialysis and responding to emergencies.

“Our orthopaedic surgeons carry out other work in the hospital as well as their joint replacement surgery and that will continue, e.g. emergency surgery, waiting list in-patient & day case surgery and seeing patients at out-patient clinics,” the spokeswoman said.

She also said the general manager of  the hospital was working with Mr O’Rourke and his colleagues to ensure time available due to deferral of the joint replacement procedures can be effectively reallocated to the benefit of patients.