Patients are suffering… Health cuts, Health crisis
Free public healthcare for all!

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Stephen Boyd

Bertie Ahern's stuttering utterances in the Dail reached a sickening new low when he spoke of the death of cancer patient Susie Long. Ahern said "I know there are problems… very regrettably, the system did not live up to its standards in that case."

The truth is that Susie Long died because of the two-tier health system. A system which exists because of the historic failure of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labour and the PDs to build a free national health service, accessible to all irrespective of income.

Fine Gael and Labour have attacked the government over the death of Susie Long, but they are hypocrites. They too presided over a two-tier health system whilst in government and introduced some of the most draconian health cuts in the history of the state in the 1980s.

Mary Harney said that the situation that Susie Long found herself in was "intolerable" and "unacceptable". Yet she is the minister for health in a government that is pursuing a conscious policy of running down the public health system in order to push more and more people into taking out expensive private health insurance. Fianna Fail and the two PDs want to privatise the health service. Their hospital co-location programme is just the latest move towards private healthcare.

The introduction of €245 million health cuts by the HSE is having a major impact across the whole public health system.

The case of Greg Robertson was highlighted by his wife, Ger on the RTE radio programme "Liveline". She explained that her husband had been seriously injured in a car accident in Belarus carrying out work for the charity Chernobyl Children’s Project and had to undergo heart surgery and then suffered a stroke.  Greg has been denied a place in the National Rehabilitation Hospital because of the latest cutbacks. Ger Robertson told Joe Duffy, "whoever decided to cut that funding has in effect signed his death certificate".

Plans are being discussed to close the stroke rehabilitation unit and orthopaedic unit at Galway Regional Hospitals. Beaumont Hospital in Dublin is going to introduce €19 million of cuts. The orthopaedic unit at Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan is to close for December, resulting in the cancelling of 200 surgeries. The cuts have also impacted on the level of service by home helps to the elderly.

Minister for Health, Mary Harney’s mantra that the health cuts will not harm patients has been blown out of the water by these examples and many more as hospital after hospital has cancelled operations, postponed treatments, laid off nurses and doctors and closed facilities.

According to the government they are not to blame for the health crisis. No, apparently it is because there are too many administrative staff in the pubic health service! Mary Harney is now planning to introduce a programme of redundancies to cut health staff numbers. Their attempt to scapegoat health workers is scandalous. Health spending in Ireland is only 90% of the EU average and according to the Irish Medical Organisation, there is a shortage of 15,000 beds. The Minister for Finance Brian Cowen (the Taoiseach in waiting), has signalled that this years budget will include a decline in public spending. This will mean further cuts in the health service.

More health spending is needed not less. The government promised to introduce a nation wide cervical cancer screeening programme in 1999. Eight years later and we are still waiting. Bertie Ahern boasted in the Dail as if it was a positive that Breastcheck was available in 15 counties – but what about the other 11! Thirty percent of cancers are preventable, yet there are only tiny resources available for preventative programmes.

The leaders of the health unions have opposed the latest round of health cuts. But they have attempted to get these cuts overturned through the failed mechanism of "social partnership". There is widespread anger and despair about the crisis in the health service amongst health workers and the general public. The health unions have the power to harness this anger into a campaign of mass protests linked to industrial action by health workers to stop these cuts and begin a movement to end the two-tier health system.

It is an horrific and tragic reality that more brave people like Susie Long will die because of the policies of this government. And these tragedies will continue until we have a free public national health service that guarantees the highest quality of treatment to all.

Health Crisis
5,000 Protest to Save Ennis A&E

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Cian Prendiville

“Bertie you are killing us!" – so read one poster in a recent 5,000-strong protest in Ennis.

 The protest struck a first blow against the HSE's plans to shut down the A&E in Ennis. This must now be used as a spring-board to organise a trade union and community campaign against the threatened A&E closures throughout the mid-west.

 At the protest, one woman speaking from the platform took out a photo of Bertie Ahern and showed it to the gathering of protestors. She then ripped it up in front of the huge audience. As the crowd let out a roar of celebration, a man ran up and kissed her on the cheek. Shaking with anger, she spoke into the microphone and said “If someone had a photograph of Mary Harney, I'd tear that up too”.

 As was reported in previous editions of The Socialist, the HSE have laid out plans to shut Ennis, Nenagh and St. Johns (Limerick) A&E. If implemented, these cuts will leave some people more that 90 minutes away from emergency services and further clog up the regional hospital in Limerick.

 On top of these plans, the Mid West has also been harshly affected by Harney's recruitment ban. The ground floor at St. John's Hospital in Limerick has been shut down, axing 24 beds. The Socialist Party in Limerick has also been informed that a block of the Regional Hospital has been shut, and we have met nurses who lost their jobs due to the cuts.

 We have been campaigning in Limerick for months against the A&E closures and have got a huge response. Now the trade unions, health staff, patients' groups and communities in Limerick, Ennis and Nenagh must build on the protest in Ennis, to organise a powerful campaign to stop the cuts. If you want to get involved with the Socialist Party in trying to organise such a campaign, then contact us today.

Health Crisis
Tallaght Hospital under threat

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Paul Murphy

As part of the government’s programme of cutbacks in the health service, the future of Tallaght Hospital now seems to be under threat. After losing out on the Children’s Hospital at the start of the year, Tallaght Hospital missed out completely on extra consultants, which were awarded to some hospitals. It now faces another attack – to cancer services.

As part of a plan of centralisation of cancer services, Tallaght is likely to lose most of its cancer units. These will in theory be moved to a centre of excellence elsewhere. Yet, as the President of the Irish Medical Organisation said: "given the HSE’s track record to date, the facilities will probably be delayed for a further two to three years adding further severe stress and unconscionable concern to patients and their families."

While we support specialist centres where necessary, these should not be created at the expense of decent local services, or used as a pretext to downgrade hospitals. With all these attacks on Tallaght Hospital coming one after another, there is now rightful concern about the future of the hospital. Linked to this is the plan to build a private hospital on the grounds of Tallaght Hospital as part of the scheme of co-location. It now seems to be the government’s intention to repeatedly downgrade the public hospital, until there is almost nothing left inside the building, while building a private hospital beside it on the public hospital grounds.

The health unions have raised the prospect of industrial action against the cutbacks in healthcare. The case of Tallaght Hospital is a perfect example of where such a lead could have an electrifiying effect in rallying the community in opposition.

The community had to fight for years to get Tallaght Hospital in the first place. Now, a similar campaign may have to be waged, together with the health unions, to defend the facilities that exist.

The Socialist Party will be organising a public meeting in the coming weeks, with representatives from the Irish Nurses’ Organisation and from the hospital to discuss the future of Tallaght. This will be an important opportunity to discuss the real threat to the hospital and how to mobilise opposition against it. For more information, contact Councillor. Mick Murphy on 494696 or email: mickmurphy@sdublincoco.ie.

Women
Increasing debt linked to ill health

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Kate Relihan

Women, Debt and Health is a new report from the Women’s Health Council and MABS (Money Advice and Budgeting Service). The report exposes the links between ill health in women and the increasing problems of indebtedness.

Indebtedness rose by 11% between 2005 and 2006 as many have been forced to increase their borrowings to keep up with the increasing cost of living.

The report clearly exposes the link between poverty, debt and ill health as the burden of trying to manage on low incomes manifests itself in stress, depression, and mental and physical illness amongst women.

The report highlights that amongst the women surveyed:

- 81% of women said they had a mental or emotional health problem as a consequence of debt;

- 50% of women a physical health problem;

- 68% reported their debt was affecting their health;        
      
- 42% identified ill-health or disability as a contributory factor to their debt situation;

- One-parent households have highest rate of consistent poverty at 21% compared to the national rate of 7%.

A shocking 85% of those surveyed are living on considerably less than the average industrial wage for women of €452.80 a week (€170 a week less than the average industrial wage for males!). How likely is it that these women would or could afford to fork out up to €60 for a visit to their GP?

The government’s cuts in health spending have also impacted on women. In the last three years the numbers in receipt of medical cards has been cut by 46,000 yet there has been a 25% increase in the population.

Low pay, the constant increases in the cost of living, the total lack of state childcare and the crises in housing and health are bearing down on many working class women.

This is another example of how the capitalist system in this country is failing to meet even the basic needs of working class women and in fact is leading to a decline in their physical and mental well being.

Download the full report in PDF format.

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