Madam, - Being no longer a member of Dáil Éireann renders it easier to ignore the public relations stunts and the clowning in which politicians regularly engage to obtain favourable publicity. If the deadly MRSA epidemic which infests our hospitals was not so serious, the reported comments of Minister for Health Mary Harney on this State's participation in the WHO initiative "The Global Patient Safety Challenge 2005-2006" would be laughable. In the context of what now confronts those dependent on Irish hospital care, they are not merely hypocritical but truly nauseating.
Your edition of December 3rd reports the Minister as saying that, as a result of the WHO initiative, she is "determined" to ensure that patient safety is higher on the political agenda than it was in the past. You also attach a headline to your report stating "Harney vows to eliminate MRSA". Creative but untrue. The official press release on the Department of Health website contains no such vow. No effective action has been taken to date to eliminate MRSA. The admission by the Minister that until now patient safety was not high on the Government's agenda was what should have been headlined.
The truth is that this Government has complacently and callously ignored one of the greatest healthcare crises of modern times for more than eight years. MRSA is now rampant throughout most of our hospitals. It has infected many thousands of patients but its true extent and impact are unknown. It has both caused and hastened the deaths of patients throughout the country but the numbers so affected have not been accurately recorded. It has caused and today is causing enormous complications in the proper treatment of the sick, as well as unnecessary pain and discomfort.
MRSA is destroying doctor-patient trust and relationships. While patients and relatives are informed when MRSA has been contracted, rarely are they told how or where it was contracted. There is also a public perception that medical personnel and hospital administrators are deliberately unforthcoming when asked such questions. The release of patients with MRSA from hospital without prior warning to GPs is a growing problem, as is the reluctance of an increasing number of patients in need of hospital care to be admitted for fear of contracting MRSA.
Have we got so used to the deficiencies in our health service that we have lost our sense of anger and outrage? We are in the midst of a major and growing healthcare emergency. MRSA is killing and maiming our most vulnerable citizens and the only response from government is a public relations stunt and a move on to next business. The Tánaiste and Minister for Health no doubt expects she can rely on the media over the next 10 days to ignore this growing crisis as it fixates on the Budget. - Yours, etc,
ALAN SHATTER, Delbrook Manor, Dundrum, Dublin 16.