The South East’s four acute care hospitals, including University Hospital Waterford (UHW), which serve 10.8 per cent of the national population, receive only 7.9 per cent of the national acute care budget, according to a local health campaigner.
Speaking to The Munster Express, Matt Shanahan of Health Equality For The South East (HEFSE) said that this deficit equates to 1450 direct health care employees who should be (working) in the region; it’s approximately a €230 million shortfall every year in terms of the acute care budget.
“And if this new move is allowed to go ahead, other clinical services will follow because once you divert patients out of the region, then in turn you divert monies out of the south east health care budget so we are down here, in this region, fighting to try and retain what we have because the Government is taking it from us, and it’s because we’re politically weak. So I believe we are set for an economic hit along for all of this as well as a healthcare and patient welfare hit (heading) into the future.”
Mr Shanahan re-asserted his belief that the Department of Health’s “new move” will lead to a “move against” the retention of emergency cardiac services in the south east, adding: “a pending review due in July or August, I believe, is poised to formally mandate the cessation of emergency interventional cardiology in the south east”. See Full edition for more
