The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, has rejected consultants' claims that hospital services are "crumbling", following the Western Health Board's decision to close 60 in-patient beds in University College Hospital Galway. The president of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association, (IHCA), Dr David Lillis, warned yesterday that patients' lives would be put at risk by closure of beds on budgetary grounds.
"This is accountancy, not a health service," Dr Lillis said, and it was a "heartless" country that failed to look after its sick at a time of a booming economy. Yesterday's announcement by the Western Health Board will affect two wards and one theatre at the hospital until the end of this year. The IHCA is concerned that other health boards may follow, as the budgetary strictures of the Health Amendment (No. 3) Act, 1996 begin to take effect. This was the first year in which the boards were required to produce service plans, and to work within a fixed budgetary allocation.
The health board decision was also criticised by the Galway West Fine Gael TD, Mr Padraig McCormack, who said that he would be seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister.
Defending the move, the health board said that it had met all the targets outlined in its service plan for this year, but it could not overrun a specific budget. It asked the public for its "understanding and patience for the next number of weeks", and said that significant capital developments currently taking place in all of the region's acute hospitals would prepare it for the years ahead. University College Hospital is expanding under a £160 million programme.
Dr Lillis, who is a paediatrician in University College Hospital, said that the IHCA had been seeking a meeting with the Minister for some time, and the earliest date given was November 18th. A spokeswoman for the Minister said that overall health spending had increased, but health boards were required under amended legislation to stay within their annual fixed allocations. Hospital activity had also increased by 4 per cent, she said.
The IHCA is particularly concerned about the impact of the cuts on heart and cancer patients on waiting lists, who may become inoperable. Some 2,000 patients are currently on waiting lists for cardiac operations. Over 2,000 children are on waiting lists for longer than six months for ear, nose and throat and ophthalmic procedures, and 47 children on cardiac surgery lists for longer than six months.
