Cowen insists children will not be denied urgent surgery

TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has strongly denied that urgent operations at Crumlin children’s hospital in Dublin will be cancelled.

“I state once again that there is no question . . . we have received an assurance . . . of urgent cases not being dealt with in terms of surgery required or whatever,’’ he said.

He was replying to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who asked how the Government could justify the withdrawal of treatment from critically ill children at the hospital. Mr Kenny urged him to call in Prof Brendan Drumm and senior executives of the HSE to advise them that the situation was intolerable.

“We cannot stand by when critically ill children are not able to be treated in a hospital that has the staff and the facilities to do so,” he added.

“The children are placed at risk as a consequence and in some cases they need to be taken to other hospitals where they can be treated.”

Mr Kenny said a Government TD had described a case from her constituency as “shameful and disgraceful”.

“It is not the kind of health system we want,” he added.

“In respect of standing over this decision, is the Government in a position to say that there is no other area within the HSE that should not have been cut first?” the Fine Gael leader said.

Mr Kenny said that it seemed, based on evidence given to him by people working in the HSE, that wastage in some areas was obscene.

Mr Cowen said that hospitals were delivering more treatments to patients this year than for the same period last year. “The question of wards and beds being closed during the summer is a feature of our acute hospital system.

“On a yearly basis that happens for various reasons.

“Specifically, on this question of urgent or emergency cases, they are being dealt with and will be dealt with,” Mr Cowen said.

“Obviously, there is a range of reasons for certain procedures not proceeding. I do not want to go into any individual cases on the matter.

“I would respect the views of the parents in this particular case.’’

Mr Cowen said the issue was about trying to improve co-operation between the three children’s hospitals so that they could reduce administrative overheads and give more money to the frontline service.

“Presumably that would meet with the Opposition’s agreement since we have a difficult budgetary situation against which we are operating generally,’’ he added.

“Over the past five years, the budget here has increased by approximately 40 per cent.’’

This year, Mr Cowen said, it was approximately 3 per cent down on last year because of the tight budgetary situation, but in fairness to the hospital it had also increased activity levels despite that fact.

Mr Cowen said it was important to encourage the process of engagement currently going on to ensure that a greater degree of the €250 million was spent on frontline services than was the case at the moment by reason of the administrative arrangement that existed in the three hospitals.