Sir, – In June 2002, Hiqa published a report that effectively stated the hospital service in the Limerick region was pretty chaotic. But no one has resolved this apparently intractable problem.
Who or what organisation is responsible for the fact that after 25 years of overcrowding in Irish A&E departments, despite the best efforts of nursing and medical staff, these conditions persist? I believe responsibility lies with the HSE, but ultimately with our politicians.
Our deficient public hospital system infrastructure represents one of the great failures of political leadership over the last three decades. Your readers might find the following evidence supportive of that conclusion.
In an April 2008 report for the HSE by Horwarth Consulting Ireland Limited and Teamwork Management Services concerning the acute hospital services in the Limerick region, a recommendation was made to reconfigure the services at University Hospital Limerick, Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s Hospital.
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University Hospital Limerick would require the provision of 676 beds resulting from the removal of 24-hour acute care at the other hospitals.
In the Hiqa report of June 17th, 2022, the number of beds at the hospital in mid-2020 was 432, 244 short of that recommended in 2008, 15 years after the HSE and the Department of Health were aware of the need for 676 beds.
The former president of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine in Ireland, Fergal Hickey, constantly advised our politicians that the real problem in our A&E departments was the lack of bed capacity. Bed occupancy rates in these hospitals are close to 100 per cent and should only be 85 per cent.
And still our politicians have not fixed the problem. Why?
In her book on Health, Medicine and Politics in Ireland 1900 to 1970, Ruth Barrington notes that healthcare is hotly debated in general elections but it does not determine how people cast their vote and political parties are aware of this.
This is why leadership in politics is so important. Barack Obama provided great leadership on introducing the Affordable Care Act in the United States in his first term in office against huge odds.
Sadly, we do not have a political leader with such leadership qualities and, as a result, overcrowded, not-fit-for-purpose A&E departments will be a feature of our health service for years to come. Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN BARTON,
Galway.