HEARTBEAT/MAURICE NELIGAN:I WAS in Carrick-on-Shannon recently, speaking at a function held to raise funds for cystic fibrosis research.
There was palpable anger about the plight of sufferers with this condition in the country today.
Post-Celtic Tiger Ireland has left a situation where life expectancy for such patients is 10-12 years less than in comparable countries. It is simply not good enough that dedicated facilities do not exist to give these young people their best possible chance.
The avoidance of infection and cross-infection is of paramount importance and so a facility with single rooms and a dedicated staff is best practice everywhere else. Not here, however; we only talk about it.
It has taken brave and articulate patients to speak out and put this issue squarely before us. The provision of such facilities is for them simply a matter of life or death. It requires immediate action, late and inexcusable as that may be.
Research may transform their lives, but first they must be around to benefit. Stem-cell therapy and genetic transference may offer hope for the future. Is it too much to hope that decent facilities will be in place to allow our patients hope?
In Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) there is in the reference to Carrick a description of the town gaol. It had "10 wards with separate sleeping cells for each prisoner".
Ireland today does not deliver the luxury of separate sleeping accommodation for those convicted of cystic fibrosis. They are scattered throughout hospital populations in overcrowded hospitals, much to their detriment.
Pleas for help from parents and doctors have gone unheard. Please, let's listen to the testimony of the sufferers themselves who have touched the hearts of so many. For Christ's sake let us do something other than just talk and promise.
I have written recently about the situation in the northeastern part of the Republic regarding medical facilities or rather the lack of them. Here, I was now in the northwest listening to more of the same. There were stories of wards closed, services reduced or abolished, frontline posts unfilled and all because of the need to stay within budget. The HSE tells us that this is not actually happening, or if it is that it is only temporary and, of course, the great canard that things will be better in the future.
Talking about the future, where are we now with the cancer strategy and the eight centres of excellence? How will they be funded if there is no money for facilities and staff? Frontline staff, that is; there seems to be no dearth of administrators.
We all sit back and are told that such units must perform at least 150 cases per year to achieve best outcomes. I think that figure applies to breasts only.
If so, what are the figures for the other common cancers, colon, stomach, lung, oesophagus, prostate, etc, and will they be dealt with in the same units?
The designated units have not yet received the staff and facilities required. When will this happen?
How is it, furthermore, that none of these postulated centres is located north of a line from Dublin to Galway? I would suggest in the interests of logic and fairness that those who reached this decision should review it, rather than disadvantage half the island.
Equity and fairness to all our people would seem to indicate that one such centre should be in the northwest and another in the northeast. It had been originally envisaged that this would be the case.
I thought a health service was all about helping people. Prof Ray Kinsella of UCD suggests that what we have should be described as a health system, as it is clearly not a service.
But since it all boils down to money I will have some suggestions to put forward. I wouldn't like the Minister for Health to think I am only a naysayer and not a team player.
If I was a betting man, I would confidently wager that the Minister's team is not likely to win anything anytime soon.
Maurice Neligan is a cardiac surgeon