Madam, – I can agree our health service compares very poorly with our peers, but Mary Harney didn’t inherit a fairytale health service. She has done more in her time at health than any of her predecessors I can remember.
Viz: 1. The end of the crippling restrictions on the numbers of students allowed to study medicine in this country. Graduate pupils and a greater intake of undergraduate med students has to be the single most effective thing we can do for our health service in the long term. 2. New contracts for consultants, requiring them to deal with public patients and provide weekend cover. 3. Fair deal scheme to finance nursing homes in a more modern way, increasing the resources available to nursing homes over time. 4. Junior doctors moving towards a more normal rota, meaning their workload will be more reasonable and savings on the wage bill can be channelled into service provision. 5. National Treatment Purchase Fund provides a floor under public healthcare to prevent waiting lists getting out of control. 6. Creating the HSE to divorce health management from the political work of the Department of Health.
Mary Harney has done a stellar job. We are lucky to have her. – Is mise,