Madam, - I have just finished reading "Better Health", the Fine Gael/Labour proposals for reforming the Health Service, and I must say I am bitterly disappointed. While the document promises some interesting and essential changes, it is entirely silent on an aspect of healthcare which is causing grievous injury and, in some instances, death, to patients. I refer to hospital-acquired infections and I find it impossible to understand the glaring omission.
I know that delays in treatment, inequalities in access, and inefficiencies are important and have to be addressed. But surely the first tenet of medical care - "Do no harm" - takes precedence. We cannot achieve a world-class health system if we are prepared to tolerate current rates of hospital-acquired infection.
The proposals in this document, and in the previous "Patients First", which at least mentioned improved hygiene, give no indication that the opposition policy makers are taking this issue any more seriously than those who are currently failing to tackle it. - Yours, etc,
TERESA GRAHAM, (On behalf of MRSA and Families Network), Meadowbrook, Tramore, Co Waterford.