Report should be blueprint for development in services at Ennis General Hospital, says Mayor

The Mayor of Clare has described the HIQA report into services at Ennis General Hospital as a cynical attempt by the Minister for Health to justify the downgrading of the facility.

Councillor Madeleine Taylor Quinn said that the deaths of cancer victims Anne Moriarty and Edel Kelly had been cynically used as an excuse to commission a report that justified Minister Mary Harney’s decision and that of the HSE to further downgrade Ennis General Hospital. The Mayor said the people of County Clare had now been placed in a chronic situation whereby the closure of acute services at Ennis was effectively being recommended despite the clear lack of additional services, staffing and equipment at Limerick Regional Hospital.

“The health of thousands of people in County Clare is being put at risk to enable the HSE and Government to implement an experimental health system, namely the larger centre of care in Limerick. Rather than vindicate the closure of acute services at Ennis, the Government and HSE should now use the report findings as a blueprint for future investment in the hospital”, she stated.

The former T.D. and Senator said that elements of the report were “farcical”. “This report states that Ennis General Hospital does not provide adequate maternity and paediatric services. To consider that the Minister for Health commissioned a report that has come to such a conclusion is a disgrace considering there has been no child born in this county since the early 1980s. Clare women must travel to Galway or Limerick to avail of such maternity services”, commented Councillor Taylor Quinn.

She added, “Furthermore, the reports emphasises that the throughput of patients is not sufficient enough to merit the retention of acute surgical services. Part of the reason for that is because the HSE removed 40 beds from Ennis General Hospital in 1988. Since then, the HSE has been consistently and persistently downgrading the hospital.”

“Patient safety issues are at the forefront of the HIQA report’s conclusions but it must be remembered that all Ennis General Hospital Consultants wrote to the Minister in 2005 to express their concerns in relation to such issues, which they blamed on the lack of HSE investment. That plea was ignored by the Minister and the HSE who are now using the HIQA report to validate their decision to implement the Teamwork and Hanley reports, which both advocate the removal of acute services from Ennis General Hospital”, said Mayor Taylor Quinn.

“Currently, Clare GPS have been instructed by the HSE that they are not to refer women to the breast clinic in Limerick unless they are manifesting the symptoms of cancer. Therefore, where do the women of Clare now go to benefit from essential breast cancer treatment if Ennis is as unsafe as the HIQ reports states? The bottom line is that Clare is now without breast screening services and is served only by a diagnostic service”, she concluded.

Report should be blueprint for development in services at Ennis General Hospital, says Mayor

The Mayor of Clare has described the HIQA report into services at Ennis General Hospital as a cynical attempt by the Minister for Health to justify the downgrading of the facility.

Councillor Madeleine Taylor Quinn said that the deaths of cancer victims Anne Moriarty and Edel Kelly had been cynically used as an excuse to commission a report that justified Minister Mary Harney’s decision and that of the HSE to further downgrade Ennis General Hospital. The Mayor said the people of County Clare had now been placed in a chronic situation whereby the closure of acute services at Ennis was effectively being recommended despite the clear lack of additional services, staffing and equipment at Limerick Regional Hospital.

“The health of thousands of people in County Clare is being put at risk to enable the HSE and Government to implement an experimental health system, namely the larger centre of care in Limerick. Rather than vindicate the closure of acute services at Ennis, the Government and HSE should now use the report findings as a blueprint for future investment in the hospital”, she stated.

The former T.D. and Senator said that elements of the report were “farcical”. “This report states that Ennis General Hospital does not provide adequate maternity and paediatric services. To consider that the Minister for Health commissioned a report that has come to such a conclusion is a disgrace considering there has been no child born in this county since the early 1980s. Clare women must travel to Galway or Limerick to avail of such maternity services”, commented Councillor Taylor Quinn.

She added, “Furthermore, the reports emphasises that the throughput of patients is not sufficient enough to merit the retention of acute surgical services. Part of the reason for that is because the HSE removed 40 beds from Ennis General Hospital in 1988. Since then, the HSE has been consistently and persistently downgrading the hospital.”

“Patient safety issues are at the forefront of the HIQA report’s conclusions but it must be remembered that all Ennis General Hospital Consultants wrote to the Minister in 2005 to express their concerns in relation to such issues, which they blamed on the lack of HSE investment. That plea was ignored by the Minister and the HSE who are now using the HIQA report to validate their decision to implement the Teamwork and Hanley reports, which both advocate the removal of acute services from Ennis General Hospital”, said Mayor Taylor Quinn.

“Currently, Clare GPS have been instructed by the HSE that they are not to refer women to the breast clinic in Limerick unless they are manifesting the symptoms of cancer. Therefore, where do the women of Clare now go to benefit from essential breast cancer treatment if Ennis is as unsafe as the HIQ reports states? The bottom line is that Clare is now without breast screening services and is served only by a diagnostic service”, she concluded.

100% Broadband Access In County Clare Can Be Achieved

Clare County Council must step in to assist the thousands of Clare households who are unlikely to ever benefit from high-speed Internet access.

That is according to Ennis West Election candidate for Clare County Council, Mr. Tom McNamara who was reacting to the recent announcement by Eircom that people in rural Ireland who live more than 5km from a telephone exchange will not get broadband. Mr. McNamara noted, however, that the potential for achieving universal broadband was still possible despite the failings of the National Broadband Scheme. He pointed to County Limerick where every household will shortly be able to avail of high quality wireless broadband services courtesy of a pilot initiative by Limerick County Council.

Mr. McNamara commented, “Limerick County Council has helped secure universal access to broadband across County Limerick by taking the initiative and working closely with companies that can provide immediate wireless broadband solutions. By entering a licence agreement with Ice Broadband allowing access to 55 Council-owned water towers to install broadband equipment, the local authority has shown that a countywide broadband service can be developed. There is no reason why Clare County Council cannot adopt a similar approach.”

He continued, “I come from Kilmaley Parish, the largest Parish in the Diocese of Killaloe, which is due to have its main telephone exchange broadband enabled later this year. However, under Eircom’s 5-mile condition most households in this 13-mile wide Parish will be excluded from accessing DSL broadband. This situation is replicated throughout County Clare. In fact, the situation is so bad that residents living less than mile from Ennis, Ireland’s Information Age Town, do not have access to wireless or DSL broadband.”

Explaining how a countywide broadband service can be developed in Clare, Mr. McNamara said, “Wireless broadband is all about line of site. If you can see the wireless broadband transmitters then you are most likely going to be able to access the wireless service. However, much of Clare’s topography is typified by rolling hills, which prevents many people from having a line of sight to a transmitter. The erection of transmitters on Council water towers at strategic points around the County would eliminate this problem, thus allowing everyone in Clare to enjoy the benefits associated with broadband.”

“Communities right across the County are frustrated with the lack of available broadband services while members of the business community have spoken of restricted expansion, investment and development opportunities due to the current situation. Broadband is increasingly becoming an essential communications tool and it would be remiss of me, as a candidate in the local election, not to recognise and support every possible method of developing Clare’s telecommunications infrastructure”, he added.

Tom McNamara is a Fianna Fáil candidate in the Ennis West Election for Clare County Council. He has played a leading role in the development of community services for mental health in Clare and has been a community activist in the Parish of Kilmaley for the past 20 years. He was heavily involved in setting up 'Meitheal' (Kilmaley Development Association), of which he was Chairperson for 7 years. Mr. McNamara is the first Kilmaley person to contest a local election since 1979.