Sir, – Noting that the recommendation of the Howarth Consulting report (2008), relating to service reconfiguration in the midwest, that “the overriding principle is that no acute service will be withdrawn from the current general hospitals until the regional centre of excellence is resourced and ready to deliver that service” was not followed, Dr John Barton (Opinion & Analysis, September 24th) asks, “Why did this happen and who made the decision?”
The answer to this question must surely be central to the quest for accountability that has seen the chief executive of the HSE initiate disciplinary proceedings against current senior University of Limerick Hospital Group personnel, who appear to be paying a high price for decisions taken by their forebears.
I was chairman of the consultants’ medical board at University Hospital Limerick between 2010 and 2011, and can attest that my colleagues and I repeatedly and vigorously argued with local senior management, including the current CEO of the HSE, that a failure to resource reconfiguration as recommended by the Howarth report would be disastrous for the people of the midwest.
In a letter to the UL Hospitals Reconfiguration Board in April 2010, I predicted “a catastrophic disintegration of medical services in the midwest” following reconfiguration.
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The abject failure of reconfiguration in the midwest was not just predictable but predicted.
Dr Barton hits the nail on the head. Why did this happen and who made the decision? – Yours, etc,
Prof ALEXANDER FRASER,
Consultant,
University Hospitals Limerick.