Ciaran Heaphey has called for Beaumont Hospital to be
immediately provided with the funding it needs to provide appropriate and
timely healthcare to all of its patients. Heaphey made his comments as the
latest ‘Trolley Watch’ data shows that large numbers of patients are routinely
left waiting on hospital trolleys and chairs due to the lack of proper beds in
Beaumont.
Hundreds Wait on Trolleys
The ‘Trolley Watch’ figures, which are compiled by the Irish
Nurses and Midwives Organisation, show that hundreds of patients had to endure
the indignity of lying on hospital trolleys during the first three months of
2014. On one day in January close to fifty people were left sitting on chairs,
on trolleys, or beds in corridors and other unsuitable locations. Across these
three months there was not a single reported day where Beaumont was able to
provide a proper bed in an appropriate location for every patient. The chronic
overcrowding that is being experienced in Beaumont Hospital is replicated in
hospitals all across the state. Years of savage cutbacks that began following
the bank bailout in 2008 have taken their toll on hospital staff, medical
equipment and hospital buildings.
Staff Shortages Put Lives at Risk
It is a well-established fact that patients in appropriately
staffed hospitals generally have better outcomes than patients in under-staffed
facilities. In other words patients in under-staffed hospitals are more likely
to suffer avoidable illness and premature death. In January of this year the
Chief Executive Officer of the Health Service Executive was presented with a
report which highlighted the difficulty that Beaumont is having in recruiting
staff to key medical positions. Poor pay and working conditions in the public
sector are causing many medical professionals to emigrate or go into the
private sector. Speaking in relation to Beaumont Hospital éirígí local election
candidate Ciaran Heaphey said, ‘As the main hospital serving North East Dublin,
Beaumont should be going from strength to strength in providing world-class
healthcare to all of its patients. Instead it is struggling to find beds for
its patients and to find staff to fill vacancies. The experience of Beaumont demonstrates
how years of under-funding can destabilize the very fabric of a hospital.
Cynical Undermining of Public Healthcare
Ciaran Heaphey continued, ‘To fully understand the situation
in Beaumont we first have to understand that Fine Gael, Labour and their
masters in The Troika are intend on privatising every aspect of healthcare
across the state. For this to happen they must first run the public health
service into the ground. And then the private sector will be able to step into
the vacuum and make vast profits out of the suffering of our citizens.
The government are cynically undermining every aspect of the
public health service and in the process they are playing fast and loose with
people’s lives. They need to abandon all plans to privatise the health service
and instead focus on providing an efficient public health service that will
provide all citizens with top-class healthcare from the womb to the tomb. And
they can start by providing Beaumont with the money it needs without delay.’
