THE HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) says the treatment of cystic fibrosis remains a key priority, despite its decision to postpone a new patients’ facility.
Yesterday, the executive confirmed that it would not be honouring its promise to provide a new building with state-of-the-art accommodation for cystic fibrosis patients by 2010. It said funding for the building would not be made available “until 2011 at the earliest”.
The Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland said the decision was a major slap in the face for patients who had long campaigned for better facilities.
In a statement last night, the HSE said it was still committed to delivering facilities for the treatment of CF patients, despite the current economic challenges.
“A design team for the new facility at St Vincent’s hospital is now in place, planning permission has been obtained, the preparation of tender documents for the construction of the facility is currently under way . . . [and] preliminary funding for this project has been made available this year so that this work can continue.”
It said it was continuing to work closely with St Vincent’s hospital to enhance accommodation at the hospital for people with CF.
“The HSE is also working with the hospital to develop a new in-patient accommodation block which will include single en-suite rooms and day treatment facilities for people with CF, as well as a range of other patients.”
After an outcry over the lack of isolation facilities for CF patients at St Vincent’s, which is the national adult referral centre for the condition, the HSE came up with an interim solution in early 2008.
It said 14 single rooms would be provided, while a new block at St Vincent’s with a total of 120 beds – about 30 of which would be for CF patients – was being built. It said it would be ready by 2010.
However, the HSE has since said its ability to deliver on new facilities in the original timescales was affected by “significant financial challenges”, forcing it to reduce its capital plan for 2009 by 26 per cent.
Fine Gael health spokesman James Reilly said the lack of appropriate cystic fibrosis beds exposed patients to cross-infection and shortened their lives, which were already tragically brief.
“It is absolutely indefensible that we are still forcing these patients into overcrowded wards that place them literally in mortal danger,” he added.
“Ireland has the highest rate of CF in the world, and the strongest mutation of the disease, so we need isolated single hospital beds for treatment more than anywhere else in the world.
“Because we don’t have these facilities, Irish patients die 10 years earlier than their counterparts in Northern Ireland.”