Madam, - It is with a great sense of frustration that I read of the winding down of the respiratory services at Peamount Hospital (The Irish Times, March 19th).
The vast bulk of healthcare services in Ireland are at primary care level. That is how it should be where facilities are available locally, easy to access and are caring in intent.
What made Peamount Hospital such an asset was the ease with which primary care physicians could get rapid access to X rays and consultant respiratory appointments with a delay of only one or two days for public patients.
Peamount provided one of the new efficient secondary care facilities which greatly assisted the provision of primary care. Closing it shows the obsession of the planners with tertiary care and high-tech facilities, to the detriment of places such as Peamount that worked well.
If someone of the calibre of Professor Luke Clancy can suddenly be discharged from providing that efficient service then we now know what we have suspected - that there is no healthcare planning in Ireland worth talking about.
Some day, someone, somewhere will plan a health service to deliver healthcare and not just deliver a system for the benefit of bureaucrats. Some day we may get a health service which is planned for the benefit of patients. - Yours, etc.,
Dr TONY FEENEY, Dodsboro Clinic, Upper Dodsboro Road, Lucan, Co Dublin.