4 March 2004 Edition
Martin must go: Sinn Féin TDs tackle government's shameful health record
Micheál Martin
- BY CLAIRE PRENDIVILLE - Tuesday marked yet another night of Private Members' Business in the Dáil chamber. One side fiercely attacked the other's policies and in response the accused staunchly defended their role, with both sides presenting arguments and well-rounded speeches drafted by their trojan behind-the-scenes workers. The topic this week was health, or, to be more precise, the current crisis of the health services which has been a very widely-debated topic in recent months since the heavily-criticised Hanly Report was published late last year.
This week it was the turn of Sinn Féin to use Private Members' Business or, in reality, the Opposition's Business, as it is the chance the Opposition parties get, (and for smaller parties this comes around fairly rarely), to raise an issue they can speak on for longer than a few minutes. Often, unfortunately for these smaller parties, the media ignores the important issues that are raised because it's possibly preferable to be out socialising or at home relaxing than staying in the Dáil chamber until 8.30pm on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
The five Sinn Féin TDs this week pointed up the inefficiencies and inequalities in the two-tier health service in the 26 Counties. This was a formidable task, especially given the unfortunate timing, only two days after the end of the weekend-long Ard Fheis. Nevertheless, they were ready, willing and able, and angry - after all, health is the single most important issue for voters today.
While Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin stepped up to raise the issue of the many Fianna Fáil broken promises with regard to waiting lists, over-centralisation of hospital services and the dreaded two-tier system, he also again raised the issue of his local hospital in Monaghan, where the maternity, A&E and paediatric services were taken away. He called the Hanly report "a recipe for the closure of more services and quite possibly hospitals in a number of locations" and said that while it was to be welcomed that junior hospital doctors at last had their gruelling schedules reduced, he "deplored the use of that Trojan horse to close services in local hospitals around this State".
"There can be no confidence in a Minister and a Government with such a record on health, not only since 2002 but since 1997," concluded Ó Caoláin. "This was their principal mandate from the people. They have failed and the Minister should go.
Health Minister Mícheál Martin, for his part, blinded the assembled with figures, statistics, names of strategies, reports, committees and plans. He even mentioned in his speech - twice - that last year saw a 42% reduction in the number of adults waiting more than 12 months for in-patient treatment and a 39% reduction in the number of children waiting more than six months. Is that supposed to be good news? It seems a very odd statistic to be proud of, especially when he failed to address even once the urgent issue of patients lying on trolleys. As Seán Crowe pointed out, an elderly lady actually died after spending five days on a trolley in Tallaght in May of last year.
Martin Ferris pointed out problems in his own native Tralee, where the regional hospital "is being denied the necessary resources to either maintain existing services or to provide those which it has been promised". There is a constant level of uncertainty in that hospital regarding staff and resources, he said.
Ferris also referred to the lack of democracy in the running of the health boards since local elected representatives have been removed from them.
The Sinn Féin motion was very substantial. Some of the main points highlighted were the fact that over 27,000 people remain on hospital waiting lists and that the number of people entitled to medical cards has actually decreased since the last election - in spite of Fianna Fáil's pre-election promises that they would eliminate hospital waiting lists within two years and extend medical card entitlement to a further 200,000 people.
Mícheál Martin, who withdrew 46,000 medical cards, responded by alluding to the "growing economy".
On the contentious issue of nursing shortages, the Health Minister tried to refute the idea that there was a crisis, claiming that there are 8,200 more nurses working in the system since 1997. Surely it is fair to point out that the population has risen considerably since then.
In relation to breast screening for women, the Minister was also quick to point out the extension of the programme to 150,000 women - but only for those in the 50-64 age group. Breast cancer is now detected in women in their early 20s so it can be of no consolation to women to know they can avail of screening when they reach their 50s. It may well be too late for many.
The lively debate also saw contributions from Fine Gael, the Green Party and Independent TDs, all of whom raised very serious issues, including the deplorable services and treatment available for patients with a mental illness, lack of proper treatment for suicidal patients and the lack of psychiatric services for prisoners (Ireland has the highest prison suicide rate in the EU).
In the disability sector, 1,382 persons with intellectual disabilities are on residential care waiting lists, 621 seek day care places and 823 still await respite care and the government has failed to abolish the means test for a carer's allowance.
As the Independent Dublin TD Finian McGrath said, "it is time we had a vigorous debate on this topic in which the voices of users and carers are clearly heard and acted upon".
The words of the Institute of Public Health sum it up neatly - "the less well-off in Ireland are dying because they lack access to healthcare in this State".
The debate on the motion was due to conclude on Wednesday evening, with Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Arthur Morgan speaking on further issues of inequality, including mental health/human rights issues and the lack of accountability and the democratic deficit in the structures within the Health Department.