That people were still lying on trolleys in hospital corridors "is a national scandal in a country that boasts endlessly about its economic achievements," the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev John Neill, has said. The situation "would be very serious in a Third World economy," he continued.
He also warned that Tallaght hospital, of which he is president and which offers medical treatments that are "not subject to the ethical demands of any one religious tradition", was "in danger of being downgraded".
He said "the present decision to establish a single children's hospital on the Mater hospital site has revealed the undermining of the commitment made in the charter to paediatric medicine in Tallaght. It has also highlighted a lack of commitment to the hospital as a whole."
After a long history of involvement in the health services there was now a very serious question mark hanging over the future of Protestant/Church of Ireland participation.
Archbishop Neill was delivering his presidential address to the Dublin and Glendalough diocesan synod in Dundrum, Co Dublin, last night.
Where patients on trolleys were concerned "the removal of the local health boards has solved nothing and it is the responsibility of central Government to realise that the structures put in place are not delivering," he said.
"The demands for hospital beds, supported by those in the front line, and above all being pleaded for by those voices coming from the hospital trolleys, are apparently not being clearly heard by Government. There is what seems to be a blind assertion that beds are not required for these patients, that doctors and nurses and hospital administrators are to blame."
Addressing delegates directly he said, "I invite you to listen out for a moment to the weak cries of humiliation and pain and confusion of those lying on trolleys in hospital corridors. These voices are not being heard by those who could make a difference."
Other voices he invited delegates to listen to were those of children. "We have all been alerted in these last few years to the deep suffering of children, suffering often so unimaginable that it has scarred them for life. Certainly the churches have had as much learning to do as society as a whole and in some cases even more," he said.
He congratulated the Government "for bringing in a vetting procedure for all those who have any contact with children. This will produce many difficulties for parishes as it extends not only to employees but to all voluntary workers.
"I emphasise that we must never seek ways around this, we must not resent it, but we must follow it to the letter. If you doubt me, just listen to the voice of one child who has been abused."
As regards Tallaght hospital he said, "to put it very bluntly", the particular ethos of a Protestant- managed hospital which set it apart from other hospitals was "that the only other factor to be considered [in treatments] is what is privately agreed between the medical practitioner and the patient."
What did not apply, but may be found elsewhere, was "the application of the decision of a hospital ethical committee".
Where Tallaght was concerned, "it was the people of Ireland and not just the Protestant community that should be making their case loud and clear."
