The socialist republican party éirígí have described the latest proposals by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to slash essential services at a number of hospitals in the HSE west region as "appalling" and "totally unnecessary". According to éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey, lives would be placed at great risk if these cutbacks proceed.
Casey was speaking after it emerged that from mid-July, the HSE are planning to shut the Accident & Emergency (A&E) unit at Roscommon county hospital at weekends and at night-time on week days. Staff shortages, specifically the lack of junior doctors as a result of the ban on recruitment are believed to be behind the move.
Plans are also underway for major cutbacks at Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar where it is expected that a number of operating theatres will be closed during the summer months in order to cut costs for the HSE.
Casey said: “These latest plans by the HSE and their political masters in the Fine Gael/Labour coalition to slash essential services at both these hospitals are not just appalling, they are totally unnecessary.”
“Shutting the A&E unit at Roscommon County hospital on week nights and completely at weekends will lead to unnecessary deaths as witnessed when similar services were withdrawn from other hospitals in the past. It will also lead to increased pressure and even longer waiting times at A&E units in Galway and Sligo which will have to deal with those who should be treated in Roscommon.”
He added: “These hospitals are already overstretched dealing with current patient levels. The increased workload will result in already overworked and under-resourced staff being placed in an impossible situation which will result in yet a further reduction in the quality and efficiency of service that patients require.”
“According to the general manager at Mayo General Hospital Charlie Meehan, amongst the proposed cuts would be the closure of two operating theatres during July and August as well as shutting a ward and ceasing orthopaedic services. He also revealed they were considering reducing the numbers of coronary care beds in an attempt to save money.”
“Labour and Fine Gael are in power for 100 days and already they are showing that they are taking up where Fianna Fáil and the Green party left off. Pre-election promises to protect essential services have already been cast aside as they set about continuing to dismantle our public hospitals and public health service to facilitate privatisation. This follows their broken pledge to return breast cancer services to Sligo General Hospital within those first 100 days.” (click here)
He concluded: “Fine Gael and Labour must not be allowed to put private profit and paying off the private gambling debts of bankers and developers before the health and well being of the people. If these cuts are implemented, the reality is that people will suffer and die unnecessarily as a result of deliberate political decisions.”
In the run-up to the general election in the twenty six counties earlier this year, the usual rash of political promises were made by those hoping to be elected to Leinster House. In the Sligo/North Leitrim constituency, probably the one single issue that was to the fore in that campaign and indeed throughout the past couple of years, has been the removal of breast cancer services from Sligo General Hospital and the campaign to have it returned.
Despite massive public opposition, in 2009 Sligo's Breast Cancer Services were finally shut down and transferred to University College Hospital Galway (UCHG). The Health Service Executive (HSE) rationale was that UCHG was one of the eight new centres of excellence established by the government where those from the north-west requiring treatment would recieve superior treatment than Sligo could provide, despite Sligo's excellent record in cancer care.
100 day Countdown Near Sligo General Hospital
The reality was totally different as campaigners and medical personnel had warned of in the run-in to the transfer of services. UCHG was already having difficulty as a result of government cutbacks in the health service coping with its present workload and patient care before they ever had to deal with the increased volume of cancer sufferers from the north west.
Since the move, government cutbacks have caused chaos at times for the medical staff trying to provide an essential service and for patients who have had to endure long waits, lying on trolleys, canceled appointments and delayed surgery. Indeed the numbers of patients, including cancer sufferers, forced to lie on trolleys at UCHG in 2010 reached an all-time high of 4,100. Those figures are set to be surpassed in 2011 as so far this year the numbers confined to trollies has been increasing steadily on last years record high. Most days the numbers effected are somewhere between 20 and 40 patients.
In April the HSE's own Healthstat survey confirmed UCHG as the state's worst hospital. So much for the hyped up 'centre of excellence'!
Health Minister James Reilly
Just over a year ago (March 29 2010) the then Fine Gael spokesperson on Health, now Minister for Health, James Reilly made a firm commitment to return the services to Sligo, describing the transfer of Sligo's cancer services to Galway the previous year as “not a balanced approach to cancer care”.
Yet as recently as this week that very same James Reilly, now the Minister with responsibility for this issue, replying to a question in Leinster House as to fulfilling their 100 day pledge, the Minister refused to give any answer as to if and when the promised return of services would occur.
All the candidates bar the Green party's Johnny Gogan, expressed their support for the return of the cancer services to Sligo General Hospital if they were elected and their parties were in government. Specific promises were made, and recorded during live debates on Ocean FM radio and at a public meeting in the Clarion Hotel that was broadcast live on the internet (click on the video below).
In particular, the Fine Gael candidates, Minister John Perry and Deputy Tony McLoughlin and the then Labour candidate and now Senator Susan O'Keefe made specific commitments that the cancer services would be returned within 100 days of them taking office. Not only did they give those commitments, they also promised to resign their seats if the pledges were not delivered as promised. Indeed Labour's commitment went even further, pledging not just to return breast cancer services to Sligo but to actually make Sligo General Hospital a ninth centre of excellence.
With just 15 days to go until that deadline expires, it is clear that this Fine Gael/Labour coalition have no intention of re-instating these services despite all their promises. Once again, people are being betrayed by those who claim to represent them and their interests.
A spokesperson for the Save our Cancer Services - North West told the Sligo Today website that the Ministers reply sounded “as if Mary Harney herself wrote it”.
Former Health Minister Mary Harney
In relation to the pre-election commitments the spokesperson added that “we have strong clear commitments they (breast cancer services) will be restored and if this letter means otherwise than we are talking about an imminent letter of resignation from John Perry followed by a similar one from Tony McLoughlin.”
“That was the clear pre-election promise they both gave and this turn of events could not only turn out to be tragic for Sligo General Hospital and the provision of cancer care in this region but also for both these politicians. Their commitment was not just that services would be restored but that in the event that that did not materialise they would resign”.
Yesterday (June 2) Minister Perry refused to say on local radio whether the services would be restored or not within the 100 days. In a live interview on Ocean FM's North West Today programme, Perry refused to give a straight answer to any question relating to the services. Unhappy with the issue of the pledge and his promise to resign being raised if the services were not returned, Perry hung up in the middle of the interview. (Click on the image below to listen to the interview)
While campaigners and the public in general throughout the north west will be extremely angry at this U-turn by both Fine Gael and Labour, they should not be surprised. Already, just three months into this coalition, there are a litany of election promises that have been binned now that they have secured power and have their backsides on Ministerial seats.
These broken promises show the true nature of our so-called democracy. It shows how relying on electing politicians every five years is to a large degree meaningless as we have no control over what they do, what decisions they make once there. Allowing us to occasionally put a mark beside a candidate on a ballot paper is designed not to enable change or allow people's participation in decisions effecting them, their communities or their country. No, it is designed to give people that illusion while the decision making processes remain firmly within the grip of the political and business classes that control this country.
Real democracy must be a continuous process of decision making relating to all aspects of society with those who are affected by those decisions controlling the decision-making process and must be based upon economic democracy. Power and influence are only ever wielded by those who control the wealth and wealth producing means in society. Therefore to have real democracy then it must be based upon the ownership and control of the means of production by the mass of working people. Without that ownership and control, meaningful change and a just truly democratic society is impossible.
To borrow a phrase from the title of former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone: If voting changed anything they would abolish it
The socialist republican party éirígí are to hold a demonstration outside Leinster House in Kildare Street this Saturday January 29th. The protest which will commence at 5.30pm has been organised in opposition to the Finance bill which is currently being fast-tracked through Leinster House.
Announcing the demonstration Cathaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson said that people need to take to the streets to resist the savage cutbacks being imposed from Leinster House on behalf of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB).
Leeson said: “The Finance Bill which is currently being fast-tracked through Leinster House is set to be the final shameful piece of legislation enacted by this Fianna Fáil led administration. It will give a legal basis to last November's blood budget. This will enable the continuance of the policy of making working class families and communities pay for the greed and corruption of bankers, developers and property speculators.” “The true cost of this Finance Bill and the grubby deal arranged with the IMF will not be measured in euros and cents. Rather, it will be measured in levels of homelessness, in the severe decline of educational standards and in the massive increase in ill-health and ultimately unnecessary deaths of working class people that will inevitably result from it.”
Leeson concluded by urging people to take to the streets:
“We have an obligation, not just to this generation but to future generations to resist and fight back. We need to drive the IMF from our shores, to burn the bondholders, to reverse the cutbacks and to establish the sovereignty of the people. éirígí are urging people to take to the streets on Saturday to send a clear message to the IMF that their dictatorship will be resisted regardless of what puppets are implementing their dictats in Leinster House.”
Take an example of a surgeon or nurse who takes a deliberate professional decision knowing it will result in serious injury and deaths, that individual will in all likelihood lose their job, their pension rights and face criminal prosecution and possibly jail for their actions. One would assume this to be the norm in all professions but as events in the past week have shown once again, it is not the norm at all.
Over the past week we have witnessed the rush by Ministers in the Fianna Fáil/Green party coalition to abandon the sinking ship of an administration that has brought the economy of this state to its knees. Minister after Minister including such 'luminaries' as Dermot Ahern, Noel Dempsey, Micheál Martin, Tony Killeen and Batt O'Keefe all handed in their resignations as the final collapse of the administration draws ever closer.
The resignation of Mary Harney as Minister for Health however was probably the most talked about among communities the length and breadth of island. While all those who served as Ministers in the coalition and their party colleagues that voted through their legislation collectively bear responsibility for the actions of this administration, Harney was the inspiration and driving force behind the deliberate run down of the public health service and the relentless push to privatise it.
The unfortunate reality is that there probably isn't a working class family throughout the state who has not been directly effected and who have not suffered as a result of decisions initiated and forced through by Harney regardless of the suffering they would cause and the lives they would ruin.
As éirígí Dublin City Cllr Louise Minihan said in the immediate aftermath of Harneys resignation, she will be remembered "for her extremely callous and uncaring attitude and the unnecessary hardship, suffering and death caused as a direct result of policies implemented by her."
She added: "Far too many families have mourned their loved ones who died because of delays in diagnosis and treatment as a result of policies she implemented. Few will mourn the resignation of Harney the minister for death.”
As Minister for Health Mary Harney planned and overseen the dismantling of our hospitals and public health system at the same time as she and her colleagues were pumping tens of billions of euro into bailing out the banks.
She has slashed hospital budgets as well as the numbers of nurses, junior doctors and other essential front line staff. She has closed more than 1600 beds, shut down wards and accident and emergency departments and reduced and removed essential services, including vital diagnosis procedures and cancer care facilities.
Hundreds of sick patients every single day are forced to lie on trolleys in Accident and Emergency departments awaiting a bed. An all-time high was reached earlier this month when the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) revealed that there were 569 ill patients lying on trolleys awaiting a bed in public hospitals around the state on the 5th of January.
There are massive waiting lists and ill people are forced to travel longer distances to receive vital treatment, as local services are reduced significantly or shut down completely. People are having to endure unnecessary suffering and are ultimately dying, and will continue to die, as a direct result of Harney's decisions.
Make no mistake about it, she was fully aware of the consequences of her actions. Her decisions were not knee jerk reactions or decisions forced upon her. All were carefully thought out, planned. and implemented. And all the while the medical professionals, trade unions and patient support groups had all made clear to her on an ongoing basis the effect her policies were having on patients and staff alike including the huge risks placed on patient safety.
But, unlike the example of the surgeon or nurse we mentioned at the start of this article, Harney and all her other colleagues who have wreaked havoc on our health service and the economy now walk away with a massive pension and without fear of criminal prosecution.
The fact that she has not been forced to hand back her pension and will not face justice for her actions exposes yet again the two tier nature of this state. It is fundamentally corrupt. The justice system is designed, not to dispense justice, but to protect the interests of the wealthy political and business class.
In the same week as Harney resigned, peaceful protesters went on trial and were convicted for demonstrating against the bank bailouts, while not one banker or politician has faced justice for their role in the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank and the complete banking sector. Now despite the massive unnecessary suffering and death she was responsible for, along with her ministerial colleagues and the Sean Fitzpatrick's and Micheal Fingleton's of this world, she is allowed to evade justice and is simply allowed to walk off into the sunset to continue to live a lavish extravagant lifestyle at our expense.
That is the reality of the state we live in - fundamentally corrupt and rotten to the core. Talk of reforming the system is meaningless. What is needed is the complete dismantling of the system and the creation of a new one, a socialist one - Revolution, not reform.
Despite the decision by An Bord Pleanala yesterday (Jan 20) to grant permission to Shell to proceed with laying their onshore pipeline in north Mayo, campaigners against the plan have vowed to step up resistance in the weeks and months ahead.
This latest application by Shell, which follows two previous applications which were rejected on safety grounds, will see them construct a high pressure pipeline to carry raw unrefined gas from the landfall site at Glengad through Pollathomais, Aughoose and Leenamore to their refinery at Bellanaboy. Shell's application for a foreshore licence to construct a tunnel through Sruwaddacon estuary is still awaiting a decision by Green Party Minister John Gormley.
Reacting to the decision, Terence Conway who is a spokesperson for the Shell to Sea campaign group said it came as no surprise since An Bord Pleanala had moved from being adjudicators of this project into co-designers of it. He also flatly rejected their claims that the people of Mayo and Ireland would benefit from this decision.
Mr Conway said: “An Bord Pleanala commented in their report that this decision would benefit the people of Mayo and Ireland. However, the only people to benefit from this decision will be the shareholders of Shell, Statoil and Vermillion. The Government’s own estimates are that there is at least €600 billion worth of oil and gas off Ireland’s coast, but it seems hell-bent on ensuring none of the benefits go the Irish people.”
He added: “An Bord Pleanala recommends that Shell create an €8.5 million community fund. The board still seems to to think our community can be bribed into accepting a project that places us in danger. This bribery fund would also be fully tax deductible for Shell under Ireland’s current oil and gas exploration licensing terms.”
In conclusion Mr Conway pledged a continuance of protests against the plan. "In November 2009” he said “An Bord Pleanala turned from adjudicator into co-designers of this project, so it's no surprise they approved the suggestion they made to Shell. Of course protests will continue and given the current economic situation we see our support growing everyday”
According to the environmental protection group An Taisce, the decision to grant permission was “fundamentally legally flawed”. They said it was totally contrary to EU law and completely ignored the legislative requirements of the EU Habitats, Birds and Environmental Impact Assessment directives.
Also reacting to the decision was éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey who said that the twenty six county governments stubborn insistence on giving away to Shell hundreds of billions of euros worth of natural resources amounted to economic treason.
Casey said: “We are currently in the midst of probably the worst economic crisis ever endured by the Irish people. What passes for government in Leinster House have set about slashing the living standards of working class people. They have cut child benefit, social welfare and wages including the minimum wage, imposed new taxes and levies, increased the cost of fuels including electricity and slashed budgets for public hospitals and schools.”
“The lie repeated by Fianna Fáil and the Greens is that there is no option but to impose savage cutbacks that have resulted in widespread poverty, mass unemployment and the emigration of thousands of our brightest young people, the very people that should be the future of this island.”
He added: “Despite all this, the coalition insist on pressing ahead with giving away to Shell, and other large multinationals, the right to exploit our natural resources. The vast wealth located under the seabed off our shores could help eradicate poverty, make any excuse for cutbacks redundant and would ensure that essential public services such as health and education could receive proper investement enabling the creation of the first class public services that people deserve. It would also enable investment in creating long term sustainable employment, to cut the dole queues and reverse the flow of emigration from our shores.”
“The only people to benefit from this latest decision by An Bord Pleanala to allow this experimental pipeline to proceed, despite the obvious dangers it poses to the environment and the local community, will be the shareholders of Shell. It also condemns the people of the Erris peninsula to continued suffering under the reign of terror imposed on them by Shell and the state for the forseeable future.”
Casey concluded: “This is economic treason and must be resisted at all costs. For our part éirígí will continue to support the people of north Mayo in their struggle to prevent this monstrosity being imposed upon them without their consent. We will also continue to highlight the need to send Shell packing and take back our natural resources, refine the gas at sea and use the wealth produced for the public good and not to line the pockets of the shareholders of multinational companies.”
éirígí Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan has welcomed Mary Harney's resignation as Minister for Health and said that working class communities throughout Ireland would rejoice at her departure. She also said that Harney must be made to hand back any pensions she is now due to recieve.
Cllr Minihan said: “Harney has overseen and implemented the systematic dismantling of our hospitals and the public health care system in order to pave the way for the full privatisation of it. The end result has been increasing numbers of hospital patients on trolleys, longer waiting lists, ill people having to travel long distances to receive treatment, prolonged suffering, lives being placed unnecessarily at risk and avoidable deaths.”
“At the same time as she was slashing hospital budgets and essential services, along with her cabinet colleagues, she was happy to protect the wealth of the bankers and developers by pumping tens of billions of euros of taxpayers money into bailing out the banks and paying off their private gambling debts. This was money that could have, and should have, been spent creating a first class health service accessible to all based on medical need and not on a persons wealth.”
“Harney will be remembered for her extremely callous and uncaring attitude and the unnecesary hardship, suffering and death caused as a direct result of policies implemented by her. Far too many families have mourned their loved ones who died because of delays in diagnosis and treatment as a result of policies she implemented. Few will mourn the resignation of Harney the Minister for Death."
Cllr Minihan concluded: “Considering the appalling legacy she leaves behind her and the enormous suffering she is responsible for, it is inconceivable that she could be allowed to feather her own nest and benefit financially from her time as Minister for Health. She must be forced to hand back her very substantial pensions and be brought to account for her actions and the unnecessary hardship and death she has caused.”
More than 120 people took part in a demonstration on Friday night outside the Clarion hotel in Sligo. The occasion was the annual dinner of Sligo Chamber at which the guest of honour was Brian Cowen.
The demonstration had been called and organised by two local campaign groups. The Save Sligo's Cancer Services were protesting at the removal of Breast Cancer services from Sligo General Hospital to Galway last year and the ongoing cutbacks at Sligo General hospital.
The Sligo Workers Alliance (SWA) also held a protest opposing the savage cutbacks imposed on essential public services, including cutbacks at Sligo General hospital, as well cuts in workers pay and social welfare payments.
According to Brian O'Boyle, spokesperson for the SWA, they were there to highlight the fact that the people who had caused the economic crisis were still in charge and forcing the less well off to carry the burden.
Despite requests from a variety of local community organisations who had sought a meeting with Cowen, all those requests were denied. Instead, the only engagements he took part in was a meeting with the Sligo Champion, one of the many newspapers owned by Tony O'Reilly's media empire, who are launching their newpaper in new tabloid format and his attendance at the Sligo Chamber's 5-star tuxedo dinner where Cowen wined and dined with business elite of Sligo.
Amongst those taking part in the protest was local éirígí activist Gerry Casey.
Speaking following the protest Casey said: “The fact that Cowen refused to meet with local community groups effected by the cutbacks imposed by his administration, yet was more than happy to help promote one of Tony O'Reilly's newspapers and attend a lavish banquet with the wealthy business elite of Sligo, shows exactly where his priorities lie.”
He added: “Cowen and his cronies care nothing for the suffering of local working class communities who he is forcing to pay for the economic crisis brought about by his policies and that of his administration. His only concern is with protecting the interests of the wealthy political and business elite and maintaining their lavish and extravagant lifestyles. The presence of so many 2010 Mercedes' at the Chamber dinner shows Cowen has done a fine job in protecting that wealth”
“On the other hand low paid workers and welfare recipients have already suffered immense hardship due to the extent of the savage cutbacks imposed over the past two years. They have suffered cuts in pay, welfare, child benefit, early childcare supplement, home help, school transport, school book schemes, the scrapping of the Christmas bonus and new prescription charges, all of which have had a hugely negative impact on their standard of living.”
He continued “Added to this is the impact that the carbon tax, subsequent increased fuel costs and the imminent ESB price hike has had on these families and which has lead to a sharp decline in the living standards of working people and has created widespread poverty. As we approach winter, the reality is that fuel poverty is set to increase dramatically and will ultimately result in more preventable illness and deaths, placing an even heavier burden on an already overburdened public health system that has been stripped to the bone and has suffered widespread slashing of essential services.”
“As éirígí have repeatedly pointed out, none of these cutbacks are based on economic necessity. This administration has pumped tens of billions of euros into bailing out the banks at the same time as they deliberately slash essential health and education services and drive increasing numbers of families into extreme poverty.”
Casey concluded: “This is a fight that working class communitiescannot afford to lose. Its long past time for these communities the length and breadth of this state to come together and organise effectively to drive these self serving politicians from power. More importantly however we need to dismantle and destroy their capitalist system which is based on greed before need and is responsible for the continued and increasing exploitation of workers, the ongoing drive to slash and privatise hospital services and the neglect of the most vulnerable in society who need assistance and care."
It appears that yet more hospital cuts are on the way here in the north west. The latest hospital to be targeted by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and their political masters is Our Lady's Hospital in Manorhamilton Co Leitrim.
Over recent years, Our Lady's has already been downgraded significantly, having suffered the loss of a wide range of services previously carried out in the hospital. Amongst the loss of services has been the closure of the Accident & Emergency (A&E) department, the removal of endoscopy and maternity services and the transfer of the orthopaedic unit to Sligo General Hospital (SGH).
Our Lady's Hospital Manorhamilton
The fear of most people in the north Leitrim area, including staff at the hospital, is that the ultimate aim of the HSE is to shut the facility altogether, shutting it down one cutback and downgrade at a time.
When questioned on their plans for the Rheumatology services, the HSE used the dreaded R word saying that they were continuing to “'review' all elements of the Rheumatology service” at Our Lady's. They went on to confirm that what they describe as a “reconfiguration of beds” will take place in the coming months at the hospital admitting that there were plans already underway to transfer acute in-patient Rheumatology services to Sligo General Hospital which is already suffering the brunt of savage cutbacks with yet more planned.
Last year SGH seen the removal of its breast cancer mammography and surgical services to Galway, the closure of its dedicated stroke unit, the loss of 72 beds and the cancellation of all elective surgery for the last two months of the year. Orthopaedic services have also been particularly hard hit. As pointed out at the start of this article, orthopaedic services previously provided in Manorhamilton was transferred to Sligo a number of years back. Now those services in Sligo, which were supposed to cater for Manorhamiltons patients as well, have been stripped to the bone. One of the two orthopaedic wards has already been shut down, with patient capacity reduced from 52 beds to just 18.
Now those 18 beds are being reduced even further to just 12 beds as the hospital starts to cut back on elective surgery and orthopaedic activity for the rest of the year as part of its cost cutting measures.
In a statement released on August 3rd this year, the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation (INMO) made clear that “the level of cuts, currently being imposed upon our public health service, are compromising patient care, lowering standards and greatly increasing the clinical risk to patients.”
The statement added: “Furthermore frontline nurses and midwives are having their views ignored and every effort they are making, to highlight real and significant risks to patients, are being simply set aside.”
According to éirígí activist Gerry Casey, the HSE and their political masters have decimated services at SGH and Our Lady's in Manorhamilton and put lives at risk in the process.
Casey said: “The HSE and this administration has repeatedly shown a callous disregard for the health and well being of the people of this region and for the public health service in general.”
“What we are seeing is cutback after cutback in essential front line services. The end result is patients on trolleys, longer waiting lists, ill people having to travel long distances to receive treatment, prolonged suffering and lives being placed unnecessarily at risk.”
He added: “As éirígí have repeatedly pointed out, contrary to what the HSE and their political masters would have us believe, the cutbacks are not based on economic necessity. They are instead part of a deliberate strategy of running down and dismantling the public health care system in order to pave the way for the privatisation of our hospitals.”
“Given the choice of protecting the health and well being of the people they claim to represent or bail out the banks, they have shown where their warped priorities lie by taking a conscious decision to pump tens of billions of euros into bailing out the banks while slashing essential health services.”
Casey concluded: “This is a fight that working class communities cannot afford to lose. It is vital that no compromise or 'deals' are made on these cutbacks, in particular from the leadership of the health service Trade Unions. It has been previous such 'deals' that has led our health service to this present crisis. Reducing the level of cutbacks is not a solution - only the ending of the drive towards privatisation of the public health system and the complete reversal of all cutbacks is acceptable.”
The following letter to the editor from éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey was recently published in the Western People Newspaper. It can be viewed online here
Mayo General Hospital
A Chara
Your editorial (August 3) rightly expresses concern over HSE plans to slash services at Mayo General Hospital and the health service in general.
Our health service is in crisis, a deliberately manufactured crisis. What has happened in recent years has been the systematic stripping down of services from hospitals around the country.
This is no accident. It is ideology driven and part of a deliberate strategy of running down the public health system, increasingly privatising all aspects of health care, including our hospitals.
The current economic crisis, brought about by a combination of greed and corruption, is being used as a smokescreen for implementing these cuts and privatising the public healthcare system.
Despite Government claims, there is no excuse for cutting funding and services for hospitals. The money to properly fund our health service is there, only they believe spending tens of billions on bank bailouts and possibly €10 million to welcome the English monarch are more important than spending on people’s health.
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has attempted to justify his savage cutbacks saying there was “no pot of gold that can be raided from the wealthy that can solve our difficulties”. This is untrue. The business elite, who amassed billions of euros on the backs of workers throughout the Celtic Tiger, remain wealthy individuals. Despite the recession, the richest people in this country have got even richer.
Hundreds of billions of euro worth of oil and gas lie off the Irish coast, the rights to these resources given away by previous Fianna Fáil administrations. Those natural resources could be nationalised at the stroke of a pen.
Yet the Government has taken deliberate decisions not to nationalise these natural resources and not to tax the rich. Instead, they are content to reduce workers’ incomes and slash essential health and education services, including funding for our hospitals.
Tomorrow morning (Saturday August 14), a demonstration against proposed HSE (Health Service Executive) cutbacks at Roscommon County Hospital is to take place. The protest march, organised by the Roscommon Health Action Committee (HAC) is to commence at the Hyde Centre in Roscommon town at 11am tomorrow morning and will proceed from there to the hospital itself, where a ‘Hands Around Our Hospital Protest’ will take place.
Like other hospitals throughout the region, Roscommon's has already suffered severe cutbacks and is bracing itself for more in the imminent future, including the possible closure of the hospital completely.
Roscommon County Hospital
A report commissioned earlier this year by the HSE West recommended the closure of the hospital. Ironically, it transpires that the cost of having that report commissioned cost the HSE a massive €90,000, money which IMPACT Trade Union say could have kept 12 nurses or clerical staff employed from now until the end of the year.
Urging people throughout the West and Midlands to support Saturday's march, éirígí activist Gerry Casey said that there must be no compromise or backing down by the Unions in relation to the proposed cutbacks in the HSE West region.
Casey said: "What is at stake here is of vital importance for future generations. The planned cutbacks are not about reducing services or even closing hospitals due to necessity. It is part of a planned strategy by the HSE, on behalf of the Fianna Fáil /Green party coalition to run down the public health service in order to pave the way for the privatisation of our hospitals and our health care system."
He added: "The current health system we have is a medical form of apartheid where the wealthy get treated whenever they want, while those reliant on the public health service have to join ever lenghtening queues to receive essential treatment. Such a system ensures that people suffer needlessly and die needlessly."
"The release this week by the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) of figures showing the continued increase in the numbers waiting more than three months for a potentially life saving colonoscopy, is yet more evidence of the danger to life posed by the HSE and this administrations health policies. People should be under no illusion. Lives have been lost as a result of cutbacks and even more will be lost if they get to impose new cutbacks"
Casey continued: "Mary Harney and her cronies in government peddle the lie that they have not the finance to properly fund our health service and that cutbacks are unavoidable. But the bottom line is, as éirígí have repeatedly pointed out, that none of these cutbacks are in any way necessary. Imposition of a wealth tax, the nationalisation of our natural resources and the proper distribution of the current finances at the governments disposal, would allow not just for a halt to any cutbacks, but also for a reversal of those already imposed and more importantly for proper new investment to be made to create an efficient public service available to all, based solely on medical need and not based on ability to pay."
"Fianna Fáil and the Green Party have pumped tens of billions of euros into bailing out the banks and developers. This is money that could have been used to fund our hospitals and invest in their future. Given the choice of protecting the health and welfare of patients who rely on the public health care system or protecting the excessive living standards of the wealthy political and business elite, the coalition chose the latter."
"This is a fight that we cannot afford to lose. There can be and must be no compromise or 'deals' on these cutbacks particularly from the leadership of the Trade Unions within the health service. Reducing the cutbacks is not a solution - only the scrapping and reversal of cutbacks is acceptable. Previous 'deals' have led us to this point. As the INMO (Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation) General secretary pointed out recently: 'The INMO voted against the Croke Park proposals primarily on the basis that they require 6,000 posts to be taken out of our health service in a haphazard, uncontrolled and unplanned manner with scant regard for the impact upon patients and their needs and requirements. We are now seeing the real impact of this flawed approach.'"
Casey concluded: "Support tomorrows (Saturday August 14) march and rally in Roscommon town and all similar protests against the proposed cutbacks. Send the message to Leinster House - Fund our Hospitals, Not the Banks."
Thousands of people took to the streets of Letterkenny in Co Donegal yesterday (Saturday Aug 7) to show their anger at Dublin Government and HSE (Health Service Executive) plans to slash services at Letterkenny General Hospital and to impose other cuts throughout the health service.
Around 3000 people assembled at the station roundabout in the town at midday for the rally which was organised by the newly formed 'Save Donegal Health Services' campaign group. Led by a piper, the large crowd marched up the Port Road towards the Main Street before turning up High Road and proceeding to the hospital itself where a number of speakers addressed the crowd.
Amongst those who delivered speeches to those assembled were spokespeople from the three main health service Trade Unions, IMPACT, SIPTU and the INMO (Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation). Speakers from the Voice of Older People Donegal (VOPD) and Donegal Action for Cancer Care (DACC) also addressed the crowd.
The planned cuts for Letterkenny include a reduction in day services, the closure of an operating theatre, the removal of at least 13 beds from Orthopaedics and the Intensive Care Unit as well as the slashing of the numbers of hours being worked by almost 100 members of staff at the hospital. They are also to close a pharmacy and shut the hospital's mortuary on a Saturday. Similar cutbacks are planned at Sligo General Hospital and other hospitals throughout the region.
Smaller hospitals such as the Sheil Hospital in Ballyshannon and Lifford Community hospital, both in County Donegal, are threatened with imminent closure. Now the HSE are saying that they may also close a major hospital somewhere in the west but they have refused to say which hospital they have their sights on.
Fianna Fáil and the Green party are also believed to planning even further cutbacks in the region of €600 million in the upcoming budget beyond these current plans to slash services.
Following the rally, the HSE issued a statement in which they claimed they would "protect front-line services" and that all services provided by HSE West would be provided in a "safe manner".
Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey, who was one of many éirígí activists from Counties Sligo and Donegal to take part in the Rally, dismissed the HSE's assertions saying that the planned cutbacks are "completely unnecessary" and will cause "unnecessary suffering and death". He said the Dublin government are deliberately slashing services and stripping the health service bare to facilitate the privatisation of the public health service.
Speaking following the rally, Casey said: "The savage cutbacks planned by the HSE and their political masters will decimate what remains of the public health service. They are using the excuse of the recession, caused by their corruption and greed in the first place, to strip the public service bare and to press ahead with the privatising of our public health service. It is also being used to drive down workers wages and condition within the health service."
He said: "Contrary to the lies and spin emanating from the political and business elite, all of these cutbacks are completely unnecessary. While Brian Lenihan and Mary Harney say they cannot afford to properly fund our health service, they have no hesitation in pumping tens of billions of euros to bail out the banking sector and the wealthy business elite. They have no hesitation in squandering millions of euros on flying around on the government jet or to invite the English Monarch here on a state visit. The message is clear – the profits of the banks and the rich mean more to this administration than the health and lives of those who depend on the public health care system."
He added: "Despite the recession, Ireland remains a wealthy country, where the rich have got even richer while workers and those on welfare have been made to bail out the banks and developers. A wealth tax could and should be introduced to make the rich pay. Our valuable natural resources, which should never have been given away in the first place, must be nationalised and the hundreds of billions of euros worth of oil and gas utilised to create a first class health service for all."
Casey concluded: "If the government are allowed get away with these proposed cuts, the reality is that people who cannot afford private health care will suffer unnecessarily and even die as a result. We should not be surprised that this administration puts private profit before the health and well being of the people they claim to govern on behalf of but we have a duty and responsibility to not let them away with it. If we fail to stop what can only be described as the wanton vandalism and destruction of our health service then future generations will suffer greatly and needlessly."
As people will already be aware, the Health Service Executive (HSE), on behalf of their political masters in Leinster House, are preparing to cut staff numbers and slash services at hospitals throughout the country. This includes both Letterkenny and Sligo General Hospitals here in the north west. The future of other smaller units such as Lifford Community Hospital and the Sheil hospital in Ballyshannon are also under threat.
As this blog has regularly highlighted (click here for most recent article) the cutbacks already imposed on our hospitals and health service in general, have caused immense suffering and hardship to patients. According to the main nursing union, the INMO "the level of cuts, currently being imposed upon our public health service, are compromising patient care, lowering standards and greatly increasing the clinical risk to patients."
Following their carrying out of a comprhensive review of the entire Health Service, the INMO said that they discovered the following:
Over 1,500 public beds are closed including beds in hospitals designated as Centres of Excellence resulting in longer waiting time for essential treatment
Very high levels of A&E overcrowding with over 300 people on trolleys, awaiting a bed, on nine days in July as compared to one in July 2009
Primary care services being curtailed, or suspended indefinitely, due to a shortage of nursing staff
Intellectual disability services being curtailed, suspended or eliminated altogether, again due to the shortage of human or financial resources; and
Frontline staff, in nursing, midwifery and other support grades, not being replaced resulting in frontline direct patient care services being compromised.
Letterkenny General Hospital
Amongst the latest cuts planned by the HSE for Letterkenny General Hospital are believed to be a plan to cut the working hours of 94 members of staff on fixed term contracts by eight hours each. Such cutbacks will result in a devestating loss of income for these workers, particularly those who are only part-time.
What these cutbacks will mean for patients are yet more operating theatre and bed closures, more people left lying on trolleys, cancelled operations, longer waiting lists and unnecessary and increased suffering and even deaths.
Previous protest rally against threatened closure of Lifford Hospital
The INMO General Secretary, Liam Doran has claimed that the cuts being implemented are being "imposed in a manner which is unsafe" and are a result of the Croke Park Agreement between the Dublin government and ICTU on public pay reform.
Speaking on Tuesday he said that patients "are entitled to quality assured services when they need them and public patients cannot be treated like second class citizens when compared to those who can afford private healthcare at this time”.
He added: “The INMOvoted against the Croke Park proposals primarily on the basis that they require 6,000 posts to be taken out of our health service in a haphazard, uncontrolled and unplanned manner with scant regard for the impact upon patients and their needs and requirements. We are now seeing the real impact of this flawed approach."
Sligo General Hospital
And while people are rightly horrified at these latest plans to cut services in our hospitals, even worse is set to follow. In the upcoming budget, Health Minister Mary Harney is seeking a further cut of €600 million off the health budget. Unless they are forced to halt these cutbacks and actually invest in creating an efficient first class health service for all, we will very soon be left no public health service at all.
This Saturday (August 7) a march and rally has been organised in Letterkenny, Co.Donegal to protest against the HSE's proposed cutbacks. The march, which will commence from the Station roundabout in the town at 12 midday and proceed to the hospital, has been organised by the newly formed Save Donegal Health Services campaign group.
The group is comprised of the three main health care trade unions, INMO, SIPTU and IMPACT. Other groups involved include the Irish Kidney Association, Donegal Action Cancer Campaign, Friends of Letterkenny General Hospital, Co-operating for Cancer Care North West and the General Voice of Older People Donegal.
Health Cuts Protest Lifford
éirígí are urging people throughout the north west to attend Saturday's protest march in large numbers. The HSE and their political masters in Leinster House need to realise and to see that as a community we are sick and tired of the savage cuts being imposed on us, at the same time as they bail out the banks to the tune of tens of billions of euro and as they feather their own nests and that of that of the wealthy business elite.
The people of the north west and the people of Ireland deserve a first class public health service properly funded, resourced and staffed. It is our right, not some privilege to be dispensed at the discretion of overpaid and uncaring politicians who are intent on dismantling it and privatising it in order to make profits for their cronies within the business sector.
Once again, the message is clear. Fund our hospitals, not the banks.
