Tipperary TD describes current situation in Mid West hospitals as a 'travesty'

The crisis affecting hospital services in the Mid West have been described as a "travesty" by Tipperary TD Alan Kelly.

The Labour TD said that he had been the issue of hospital care in the Mid West throughout his political career, but what was happening currently was a "travesty for the people of Tipperary, Clare and Limerick" that was entirely predictable given what we have come through over the last few years.

"The historical decision to create a centre of excellence in UHL for cancer care and other disciplines was not the wrong one," he said. "The decision to close local A&E’s and critical care units before the total infrastructure was in place in UHL, and, indeed, across the hospital network of UHL, Nenagh, Ennis and St John’s was."

Deputy Kelly said that he had warned of this at the time and we were all now paying for this.

"It is not acceptable. We in the Mid West were the guinea pigs for testing HSE reconfiguration for the rest of the country. We were sold a pup. It has not worked," he declared.

Deputy Kelly said that the test of any change was whether public confidence was maintained and it hadn’t been.

"This is no reflection on staff and management across the network who have been working all hours to make something work that just can’t because the area covered in the Mid West is just too big for a hospital network conformed the way it currently is," said the Labour TD.

He pointed out that UHL had less consultants, staff and beds pro rata than other similar size hospitals. The former chief clinical officer of the UHL network of hospitals Dr Gerry Burke had pointed this out continuously and fought for equal resources until his retired.

In the long term, in the Mid West we needed more capacity, more beds, more consultants, more staff and more transportation. This was plainly obvious, he said.

The Mid West also needed an elective only hospital, which could be based in Limerick, or, indeed, Nenagh where there was ample space beside the current hospital, which is close to the M7.

There was also a need for better transportation in a rebooted ambulance and paramedic service.

"However in the short term, there needs to be a complete refocus on better community care outcomes. The relationship between acute and community care needs to be a hand-in-glove relationship especially to facilitate timely acute discharges and keeping people living at home as long as possible," said Deputy Kelly.

He said that the Government needed to step up here with better pay and conditions for staff working in home care.

"People won’t do this work as pay and conditions aren't good enough. I’m sick and tired of saying that a employment order needs to be in place for home care workers," he said.

Deputy Kelly also believed that the HSE should purchase Barringtons Hospital in Limerick to help with capacity, pointing out that it was already set up and wouldn’t need little modifications to act as an elective hospital in the short to medium term.

We need more public capacity not more private hospitals. There needs to be a massive recruitment drive for consultants and staff. This needs to happen immediately outside the State as well as inside," he said.

Deputy Kelly further stated that there was a need for full cooperation between GPs, hospitals and community care providers as getting people speedily through the HSE service and prioritising patients based on need was critical now more than ever.

"The idea that GPs can pick up the slack at all times during critical periods like now just isn’t realistic. Everyone has to work together," he said.

"I’ve put all these ideas and issues to the Government, the Taoiseach of the day, Minister Stephen Donnelly and his officials on numerous occasions in order to try and find solutions. I’ll continue to do so. The Government often derides the opposition for not offering solutions. I’m offering some. It’s beyond time they listened," said Deputy Kelly.