New action group sought to fight HSE cuts

CALLS have been made for the establishment of a new action committee in Clare to oppose proposed cutbacks in health services in the county and throughout the Mid-West totalling €35 million.

Over 100 people attended a protest meeting organised by Ennis Labour Town Councillor, Paul O’Shea where public representatives and residents voiced unanimous opposition to the Draconian reduction in spending due to a lack of Government funding.
Speaking after the meeting, Councillor O’Shea confirmed he had obtained a list of new non-party political people who were interested in getting involved in the existing Ennis Hospital Development Committee.
Once a meeting is held with the Hospital Development Committee, Mr O’Shea anticipates that a new sub-committee will be set up to fight the cuts.
There were calls at the meeting for the establishment of a new health committee in Clare without any public representatives.
In an interview with The Clare Champion, IMPACT representative Andy Pike, who met a number of Health Service Executive (HSE) workers on temporary contracts in Clare on Wednesday, estimated that between 50 and 100 of these employees could lose their jobs, while the figure in the Mid-West could reach 100.
He said temporary staff in the HSE are wondering how their jobs could be cut under the terms of the Croke Park deal, which was agreed between the unions and the Government.
He claimed the cutbacks are not affecting the other HSE regions to the same degree.
“The big problem in the HSE West is the increase in the number of patients being treated and the cost of providing services in rural areas in a huge land mass. The over-run in the Mid-West is about €35m. This includes about €5m in community services, which might be more because managers don’t know what the exact cost of demand-led schemes will be.”
He warned there could be more cuts later this year as managers had stated they may seek another meeting with unions in four to six weeks if the current proposals don’t achieve the necessary savings.
Further meetings will take place with unions over the coming weeks as the HSE has said that more will have to be done to break even by the end of the year.
Acknowledging there have been some very positive developments in cancer and acute trauma care, Dr Billy O’Connell proposed that a new structure should be put in place to facilitate improvements in the way health services are delivered on a nationwide basis as hospital marches and demonstrations haven’t worked.
He claimed the reconfiguration programme came as a fait accompli and expressed concern about the ability of Limerick hospital to cope with patients in the winter time.
Due to the chronic lack of public consultants in the Mid-West, dermatology and neurology have waiting times of up to five years, he said, patients are forced to get treatment privately.
Deputy Jan O’Sullivan said the Mid-West has been suffering for a long number of years because it didn’t get adequate funding even in the good times.
HSE regional director of operations, John Hennessy said the HSE West region is not unique, as other HSE areas in the South and Dublin area were experiencing significant over-expenditure.
When it came to implementing cuts, Mr Hennessy explained the HSE would use three main criteria – safety, protection of front line services and increased efficiencies in terms of procurement and non-pay items.
While the HSE will take a hard look at the delivery of services and prioritise scrutiny of non-pay items, he pointed out the agency has to look at trying to reduce payments on overtime and on-call and pay overall as this accounts for over 70% of overall day-to-day spending.
“It is not possible for the HSE or any union to give an accurate figure of how many temporary workers may be laid off at this stage and this may only become available on a month by month basis,” he said.
Asked about reports concerning up to 44 patients on trolleys in Limerick Regional last week, Mr Hennessy acknowledged there would always be pressure points from time to time in hospitals and noted hospitals throughout the country are experiencing an increase in admissions.