Mid West acute hospital situation is an ongoing historical failure where citizens have been failed says Alan Kelly

Tipperary's Labour TD, Alan Kelly, has described as 'a travesty' the current situation with the health services in the mid West Region.

Deputy Kelly siad that he has been raising the hospital situation in the mid west throughoput his political career and doubts that he has raised any other issue as much in Leinster House

"What is happening currently is a travesty for the people of Tipperary, Clare and Limerick but it was entirely predictable given what we have come through over the last few years.

"The historical decision to create a centre of excellence in UHL for cancer care and other disciplines was not the wrong one. The decision to close local A&E’s and critical care units before the total infrastructure was in place in UHL and indeed across the hospital network of UHL, Nenagh, Ennis and St. John’s was.

"I warned of this at the time and we are all now paying for this and it is not acceptable. We in the mid west were the guinea pigs for testing HSE reconfiguration for the rest of the country. We were sold a pup. It has not worked.

"The test of any change is whether public confidence is maintained and it hasn’t been. This is no reflection on staff and management across the network who have been working all hours to make something work that just can’t because the area covered in the mid west is just too big for a hospital network conformed the way it currently is.

"UHL has less consultants, staff and beds pro-rata than other similar size hospitals. The former chief clinical officer of the UHL network of hospitals Dr. Gerry Burke pointed this out continuously and fought for equal resources until his retired.

Tipperary's Labour TD, Alan Kelly

"In the long term, in the Mid West we need more capacity, more beds, more consultants, more staff and more transportation. This is plainly obvious. We also need a elective only hospital in the MidWest. This could be based in Limerick or indeed Nenagh where there is ample space beside the current hospital which is close to the M7 motorway. We also need better transportation in a rebooted ambulance and paramedic service.

However, he added that in the short term, there needs to be a complete refocus on better community care outcomes. The relationship between acute and community care needs to be a hand in glove relationship especially to facilitate timely acute discharges and keeping people living at home as long as possible. The Government need to step up here with better pay and conditions for staff working in home care. People won’t do this work as pay and conditions arent good enough.

"I’m sick and tired of saying that a employment order needs to be in place for home care workers," he said.

"I also believe that the HSE should purchase Barringtons Hospital in Limerick to help with capacity. It’s already set up and wouldn’t need little modifications to act as an elective hospital in the short to medium term. We need more public capacity not more private hospitals. There needs to be a massive recruitment drive for consultants and staff. This needs to happen immediately outside the state as well as inside.

"We need full cooperation between GPs, hospitals and community care providers. Getting people speedily through the HSE service and prioritising patients based on need is critical now more than ever. The idea that GPs can pick up the slack at all times during critical periods like now just isn’t realistic. Everyone has to work together.

"I’ve put all these ideas and issues to the Government, the Taoiseach of the day, Minister Stephen Donnelly and his officials on numerous occasions in order to try and find solutions. I’ll continue to do so. The Government often derides the opposition for not offering solutions. I’m offering some. It’s beyond time they listened," Deputy Kelly said.