10 May 2001 Edition
Biffo skips A&E queue
BY COLM DE FAOITE
Last Friday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowan, had an unfortunate collision with a motorcyclist at St Stephen's Green, Dublin, and was taken to St James's Hospital.
On his arrival, a corridor in the Accident and Emergency Unit was cleared of patients and their relatives. Security personnel lined the corridor and a screen was erected to hide his identity from other patients awaiting attention.
Bashful Brian was met on arrival by medical staff and attended to immediately. He passed a queue of patients awaiting treatment including seven seriously ill or injured people on trollies, not to mention the dozens of ``walking wounded'' in the waiting room, many of whom had been sitting for hours. Depite the damage done to the ministerial dignity, Biffo's injuries were relatively minor compared to the more urgent cases demoted in the order of priority to facilitate the Offaly VIP.
The order by the hospital authorities to ``treat the Minister first'' was resented by staff who are forced to listen daily to complaints, and often abuse, from members of the public who have to wait five, six or more hours to be seen by a doctor in A&E. It goes against the instincts, training and better judgement of professional medics to prioritise casualties for treatment on any grounds other than medical criteria.
Had the Minister done the decent thing and taken his place in the queue, he might have experienced at first hand the unacceptable waiting times experienced in A&E units in hospitals and the appallingly stressful conditions under which hospital staff work.
Last Friday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowan, had an unfortunate collision with a motorcyclist at St Stephen's Green, Dublin, and was taken to St James's Hospital.
On his arrival, a corridor in the Accident and Emergency Unit was cleared of patients and their relatives. Security personnel lined the corridor and a screen was erected to hide his identity from other patients awaiting attention.
Bashful Brian was met on arrival by medical staff and attended to immediately. He passed a queue of patients awaiting treatment including seven seriously ill or injured people on trollies, not to mention the dozens of ``walking wounded'' in the waiting room, many of whom had been sitting for hours. Depite the damage done to the ministerial dignity, Biffo's injuries were relatively minor compared to the more urgent cases demoted in the order of priority to facilitate the Offaly VIP.
The order by the hospital authorities to ``treat the Minister first'' was resented by staff who are forced to listen daily to complaints, and often abuse, from members of the public who have to wait five, six or more hours to be seen by a doctor in A&E. It goes against the instincts, training and better judgement of professional medics to prioritise casualties for treatment on any grounds other than medical criteria.
Had the Minister done the decent thing and taken his place in the queue, he might have experienced at first hand the unacceptable waiting times experienced in A&E units in hospitals and the appallingly stressful conditions under which hospital staff work.