HEART BEAT:Renegotiation of the Programme for Government ignores the needs of patients, writes MAURICE NELIGAN
OUR SHATTERED health service got little tangible from the latest “transformation” of the Programme for Government. Patients and problems were ignored.
We were told that there was to be an expansion of colorectal screening and cervical vaccination. This puzzled me, as we don’t have either currently. Furthermore, the cervical screening programme is being downsized.
This “expansion” was to happen “at the earliest opportunity in accordance with clinical priorities”. What does that mean precisely?
We are, however, to have a programme to measure fluoride levels in the general population. No, it’s not a joke.
Finally, the “motherhood and apple pie” contribution – there is to be increased research and development in the health sector. Wow!
I don’t want to be entirely negative. There was a commitment to end stag hunting. They hadn’t the guts to ban coursing, so they settled for the soft option.
Neither of these countryside pursuits bothers me unduly. I have a thick skin and worry more about sick and underprivileged people. There wasn’t much for them in this salutary fairy tale.
But the stags are safe and so seemingly are the mink. The fur farms are to go in three years. A couple of hundred more people lose their jobs and a small export-oriented industry goes to the wall.
I wonder what’s next – pig farming possibly, or raising cattle or sheep, maybe angling and shooting. This would have the added benefit of reducing methane emissions.
To use this renegotiation of the programme to impose minority views on the rest of us is the antithesis of democracy. For the majority party to agree shows starkly how desperate they are to retain power.
Poor old Santa Claus, it’s going to be a cold Christmas for him in the Republic unless he changes his attire.
“He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot”
(Clement Moore – The night before Christmas).
We should have a new role model for the children; somebody like Gandalf the Grey from The Lord of the Rings. We could call ours Gormless the Green and could guarantee the children that the presents would be delivered by a mixture of ferry and limousine. He wouldn’t need the Government jet at €8,000 an hour.
Anyway Santa, it’s going to be a lean Christmas for the rest of us, bar the fortunate few such as Prof Drumm with his €70,000 bonus.
The HSE confirmed that all contractual obligations with regard to the salary of Prof Drumm will be met, including the bonus. This stirred hope among the doctors, nurses, pharmacists and hundreds in the wider public service that their contractual obligations would be similarly met. There are two chances of that.
We’re told that this bonus relates to 2007 and that €1.4 million in bonuses have already been paid out to HSE management, performance related to that year. The set targets had been met in 2007.
Performance targets in the HSE are apparently achieved, when they can stop their front- line troops – doctors, nurses and paramedics – from doing their jobs, thus saving money and staying within budget.
In December 2007, there were 3,171 patients on trolleys throughout the State, an increase of 30 per cent on 2006. That’s performance alright.
But there was strategic planning in 2007. As a result, in September this year, there were 4,581 trolley patients, a further 31 per cent increase. That’s major progress.
Trolleys aside, there are hospitals closed and downgraded, beds closed in extant hospitals, 750 at last count, 900 patients stranded in acute hospitals because they have nowhere else to go. There are operations cancelled daily, and hopelessly inadequate services in rheumatology, dermatology, neurology, cystic fibrosis – the list is endless.
The Minister says she is not responsible for the HSE and doesn’t want to appear meddlesome, and in any case Prof Drumm is a head lad. The Taoiseach says the same and, to complete the ensemble, the chairman of the HSE says that the Prof is doing a fine job.
Line up the tumbrels folks. We’re going to need them soon.
Maurice Neligan is a cardiac surgeon