Sir, It was recently reported that a number of surgeons and consultants in Our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin have written to hospital management stating that they are unable to provide emergency surgery for children with congenital heart defects because of the shortage of ICU and theatre nurses.
Add to this deplorable situation the fact that:
New operating theatres will not be completed until November 2003, almost six years after the previous minister for health announced that he had appointed a design team for them;
The proposed hospital development plan, which will include new cardiac facilities, has not yet been given permission to appoint a design team and at present rate of progress is probably 10 years down the road;
Acute hospital beds on cardiac wards are routinely taken up by "social cases", children who are physically well but cannot be catered for by the social services because of lack of suitable accommodation for them.
It is ironic that the Government is pushing ahead with great efficiency its programme to provide extra prison places and has recently opened a new prison at a cost of £45 million. At the same time the National Centre for Paediatric Cardiology has had no major investment since the early 1970s. As far as I am aware, prisoners now have the right to vote in elections. Sadly it is not so for children with complex heart conditions, many of who will never reach voting age because of the lack of vision and commitment of successive governments to their care and well-being. - Yours, etc.,
Shay McConnell, Chariman of Heart Children, North Brunswick Street, Dublin 7.