A hollow ring

EDITORIAL

NOT for the first time, political promises have a hollow ring to them, particularly those vouched for the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis.

In the run up to polling day before the last two general elections, Fianna Fáil candidates were throwing out sweeteners to the voters like confetti. It’s the very essence of the political game, using promises of major capital investment and infrastructural development to leverage political support.
A central plank to Fianna Fáil’s election campaign in the county prior to the 2007 General Election was the promise of a €40 million investment in redeveloping the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis, thereby increasing the bed complement to 129 beds.
However, it has now transpired that this project will not proceed and that Ennis will have to make do with a scaled down and more modified extension.
Only a few weeks ago, the Health Service Executive (HSE) was granted planning permission for a €15m extension with 50 in-patient beds and 20 day beds. Work is scheduled to start on this project before the end of the year with a six-month approximate timeframe for completion.
However, what the extension disguises is that the development represents a net gain of just two beds, arising from the hospital closing 25 acute beds in September 2009 following the closure of the hospital’s 24-hour accident and emergency.
This week, the HSE admitted the €40m hospital redevelopment would not be proceeding as originally planned but that it would happen incrementally in line with modern healthcare needs.
In a statement, the HSE emphasised, “Reconfiguration has changed the direction of hospital-based care across the country and capital development is changing in line with the refocused nature of healthcare.
“If one considers the two projects – endoscopy suite/day ward and ward development – currently being undertaken, it is obvious that they form significant portions of what is now being referred to as the €40m development.”
This news has emerged at a time when HSE West is warning of the need to achieve cuts of almost €50m across the western seaboard, including County Clare, by the end of the year.
John Hennessy, regional director of operations HSE West, added that there would be no question of carrying an overrun into next year when there could be further budget reductions of €600m to €700m nationally.
He told a regional health forum this week that €12m can be saved every month from now until the end of the year by cutting temporary staff by 7,000 hours per week and redeploying corporate and support staff from headquarters to hospitals.
Further measures would include controlling a €5m annual absenteeism and sick-leave bill and recouping €10m owed to HSE West by private health insurers.
Mr Hennessy spoke in general terms and declined to detail the extent of cost-cutting measures that could be introduced at the hospitals in Ennis and Limerick.
The focus, Mr Hennessy said, would be on ensuring safety and quality and he added, “If we can’t provide the service safely, we won’t provide the service”.
But he also cautioned, “It would be incorrect for me to say that the savings can be achieved without impacting on patients but the aim is to reduce this to the minimum”.
Clare Green Party member and Councillor Brian Meaney suggested that not to reveal the specifics is a deliberate ploy to avoid embarrassing the Government even more and following the decision of Independent TD Noel Grealish not to support the Government in the future until the issue of health cuts is clarified.
This was refuted by local health managers but it remains to be seen how the story unfolds.

Taking unnecessary risks

IT is a naturally occurring radioactive gas with no smell, colour or taste but yet it has the capacity to cause death.
Outdoors, radon gas quickly dilutes to harmless concentrations, but when it enters an enclosed space, it can accumulate to unacceptably high concentrations. This gives rise to a radiation dose that may cause lung cancer and each year in Ireland, 200 people die from lung cancer directly linked to exposure to radon gas.
Very worrying is the news from the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) that in a recent test, 32 houses in Clare were found to have elevated levels of the deadly gas.
Alarmingly, in one house measured in Lisdoonvarna, the RPII discovered concentrations of radon gas way above the reference levels. The radiation levels that the householder was exposed to would be equivalent to receiving 12 chest X-rays per day or 4,380 chest X-rays per year.
Furthermore, there are black spots around the county where radon levels are running at 20% above the acceptable level, including Ennis and its environs, Crusheen, Corofin, Ruan, Kilnamona, Inagh, Clarecastle and Newmarket-on-Fergus.
The areas of Clare that have a predicted 10% or more of houses registering radon levels in excess of 200 Bq/m3, include the entire North Clare area from Kilshanny to Belharbour and Carron to Doolin, along with Ballynacally, Shannon, Sixmilebridge, Bunratty, Quin, Tulla and Feakle.
Chief executive of the of the RPII, Dr Ann McGarry sent out a somber message when she admitted that they are very concerned about the continued risk radon gas poses to householders in Clare.
Dr McGarry warned that householders need to take the matter seriously and measure radon levels in their home and for people’s own peace of mind, it would be money well spent to carry out the necessary test.
However, a little common sense would go a long way. Why take unnecessary risks particularly as measuring for radon and, in the event of a high reading, reducing the levels present are both relatively inexpensive?
Radon can be detected using special inexpensive detectors, cheap when measured against the possible fatal consequences.