Madam, - Saturday's (March 11th) Irish Times gave a tragic and infuriating insight into the state of our health service. On page 1 you reported the consideration given by the Dublin City Coroner's Court to the death of 74-year-old Nancy Lucas, who was brought to the accident and emergency unit in the Mater Hospital. Having suffered a stroke Nancy Lucas was left forgotten on a trolley in a nurses' tea station for four hours. Her condition deteriorated and the pleas of her family that she receive medical attention were ignored until it was too late.
Page 5 of the same paper reported Mary Harney, the Tánaiste and Minister for Health, as criticising Tallaght Hospital in her own constituency for its handling of accident and emergency services.
The Minister apparently expressed concern at the number of patients in A&E and the waiting time for admissions. The Tánaiste apparently lives in some parallel world in which can disclaim responsibility and blame others for the appalling state of our health service despite the fact that she has as Tánaiste been part of a Government vested for nine continuous years with the responsibility for running our health services and in which she is Minister for Health.
The need for additional beds in our hospitals is well documented. We should re-structure our accident and emergency units so that those who suffer non-serious accidents are treated in a separate location from the genuine emergencies.
We need a general practitioner-led accident service and a consultant-led emergency service. Neither the stroke victim nor the cardiac patient should be delivered by ambulance to the same unit as the Friday or Saturday night drunk requiring stitches as a result of a fall.
Viewing the present crisis in our health service and the Progressive Democrats' claim to be the real meat in the Government's sandwich leads to only one conclusion.
It is that the Progressive Democrat meat has long since passed its sell by-date and is unfit for political consumption.
It is time it was thrown out. - Yours, etc,
ALAN SHATTER, Delbrook Manor, Dublin 16.