Deputy Seamus Healy has told the Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister Leo Varadkar to keep their hands off the Emergency Department at South Tipperary General Hospital.
Cuts to services at South Tipperary General Hospital must not be allowed become a political football within Fine Gael between Taoiseach Kenny and Minister Varadkar.
A Document leaked from the HSE states that one of the measures which may be necessary due to budgetary cuts is the closure of several A&E services between 8 in the evening and 8 in the morning. These include the A&E service at South Tipperary General Hospital.
This would be completely unacceptable. It would amount to the effective denial of health services to those living outside the larger cities, a vicious form of discrimination. After dark, the nearest A&E services would be situated in Limerick, Cork and Waterford. Indeed the A&E service should also be restored to Nenagh General Hospital.
We have had enough health and hospital cuts, far too many in fact.
South Tipperary General Hospital Budget has been cut by almost 25% or €11million over the last few years and it has lost over 100 staff.
This year, 2014, has seen a further €1.7 million cut to the budget.
Over the same period, activity at the hospital and patient numbers has increased significantly and the hospital is operating at 120% capacity on an on-going basis.
The hospital has been put under severe pressure: staff are working above and beyond the call of duty and despite their best efforts are struggling to provide a safer service.
Deputy Healy has called on all Government Oireachtas Members in County Tipperary, Ministers, T.D.’s and Senators to ensure a full Accident and Emergency Department Service is maintained at South Tipperary General Hospital.
Speaking in the Dáil, Deputy Seamus Healy called on the Minister for Health to personally intervene to ensure that a quality, safe Mental Health Service is available to the people of South Tipperary.
Deputy Healy complemented the staff providing the service who work above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis. However, despite their best efforts, the Service has serious difficulties and is less than adequate.
Some would say the service is dysfunctional and others describe it as being in crisis. The reason for this is the changes over recent years by the Minister and the HSE to the mental health services for the people of south Tipperary. These changes were bulldozed through by the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, and the Health Service Executive. There was sham consultation and no engagement whatsoever with stakeholders by the Minister and the HSE.
Stakeholders who were 100% committed to A Vision for Change were dealt with in an arrogant and dismissive manner and it was suggested in a mischievous and dishonest manner that stakeholders were opposed to A Vision for Change, which could not be further from the truth. The staff associations, service users, general practitioners, consultant psychiatrists and public representatives were not listened to and staff felt bullied, threatened and intimidated. Indeed, the Minister of State, at a deputation, indicated that not only were the changes she was proposing set in stone, but that they were set in blood. Of course, the Minister of State and the HSE have refused to honour the various commitments they made at the time.
For instance, there are five community mental health teams in south Tipperary, including three sectoral adult teams. None of these teams is properly staffed. Not a single team has the staffing levels provided for in A Vision for Change. The rehabilitation team, for instance, has no allied health professional of any kind. Earlier this year, clinics could not be held because of the shortage of consultant staff. Indeed, the closure of the inpatient beds at St. Michael’s unit in Clonmel and the transfer of those beds to St. Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny has been a disaster. I am told by service users and family members that south Tipperary patients are being delayed in admission to that unit, south Tipperary patients are subject to early unsupported discharge from that unit, and family members find it difficult to visit and support their relatives who are patients in the unit. There is no continuity of care for south Tipperary patients at consultant level. The crisis house promised for south Tipperary has not been built and now, apparently, is on the back burner and the interim crisis house meant for short stay, a maximum of 72 hours, is being used for stays as long as weeks and months.
Particularly disturbing are the contents of a letter sent by nine consultant staff in the service in Carlow-Kilkenny and south Tipperary to the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, in June 2013. That letter speaks of the service in terms of being unsafe, of them having serious concerns, of excessive numbers of deaths, of inadequate local governance arrangements, of nine fatalities between August 2011 and January 2013, and of meetings having been a sham. No response has been made to that letter since then, over 12 months ago.
The people and the service in south Tipperary have no confidence in the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, or the Health Service Executive. I call on the Minister to personally intervene to ensure that a quality safe service is available to the people of south Tipperary.
Seamus Healy T.D
Tel 087 2802199
7/7/2014
Paddy McGowan, interim Head of Service User, Family Member and Carer Engagement on the HSE National Mental Health Management Team is planning a series of nationwide meetings to hear directly from people who have experience of the mental health services, their family, friends, and/or carers or anybody who has an interest in this area.
These meetings will allow people who use mental health services and their family/friend/carers to share their views on how mental health services should be developed and delivered.
Paddy has a long and distinguished history as a campaigner on mental health issues. He has personal experience of the mental health services, both as a service user and as a carer. He has also been involved in advocacy around issues both nationally and internationally for many years.
Please tell people who use mental health services or anyone who has an interest in mental health services about these meetings.
These meetings were originally scheduled for the end of February, but unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control they had to be cancelled.
For further information please contact John McCusker, Mental Health Services at 01-6352673 or email john.mccusker@hse.ie
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