Madam, – Has our Minister for Health no shame when she suggests an information and quality body, HIQA find “innovative ways” to fund a desperately needed bowel cancer screening programme from “existing resources” (Home News, June 18th)? Knowing full well that “existing resources” can’t cope with finding beds for acutely unwell patients, let alone a new service, Mary Harney is, in essence, asking HIQA to extract blood from stones.
One innovative way would be to sack Department of Health officials, whose job it is to solve funding problems, and give HIQA their payroll costs to cover the cost of the new service. Add in a Minister or two and you’d be surprised at how much you would save. – Yours, etc,