THERE is no such thing as a nonessential health service, according to the Irish Patients Association.
The newly formed association has expressed grave concern about the level of hospital cover during the nurses strike. It is keen to monitor the strike from a patient's point of view, and asks people to keep in contact.
Dr Tony O'Sullivan, the association secretary, believes that "false distinctions" have been made. "We have a lot of concerns about the consequences of this strike. There is no doubt people will suffer. We have been told that there will only be essential cover but how can you make those decisions about what is essential?
"As far as we are concerned, there is no non-essential treatment. We want to do everything in our power to keep pressure on both sides so that agreement will be reached."
He said there could be serious implications for people on waiting lists who would have to wait even longer if a strike occurred, many of whom had conditions which would deteriorate during that time.
"What is going to happen to someone who has a complication of surgery and is lying in a ward during the strike? Complications may be missed or not discovered until later," Dr O'Sullivan, a general practitioner, said.
The association had great sympathy for the nurses, he said. "Nursing is very difficult now. Their role in the health service has changed completely. Successive governments have allowed the anger to build up and Michael Noonan will have to do something now."
He expressed concern for patients at home who were normally treated by public health nurses and patients who were terminally ill. "At that stage 99 per cent of care is nursing care. Nurses have a huge role for dying patients and for their relatives. I shudder to think what the death of people will be like during the strike," he said.
It was set up last year by Mr Stephen McMahon, a company executive, who had experience of the health service through his wife's illness. It wants the "short-falls" in the health service in relation to patients to be addressed and their members' views to be taken into consideration when, policy is being formulated.
Dr O'Sullivan can be contacted on 087 630442 or at 78 Seafield Court, Killiney, Co Dublin.
