The South East Patient Advocacy Group (SEPAG) is calling for a full public inquest into the death of Thomas Power on June 18th, along with the immediate implementation of 24/7 cardiac care at University Hospital Waterford (UHW).
At the request of Mr Power’s family, SEPAG also requested that the Mobile Cath Lab be “deployed without any further delay” at UHW “to enable a 24/7 cardiac care service to be implemented for the southeast region”.
According to SEPAG’s Hilary O’Neill: “We cannot have any more needless deaths. The simple solution is to install the mobile Cath Lab immediately which can operate 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, performing diagnostics and some routine procedures. This would leave the Cath Lab at UHW available for interventional cardiology on a 24/7 basis until a second permanent Cath Lab can be put in place. It is not an unreasonable request and we feel it can be done and it may prevent more needless deaths in the region.”
Ms O’Neill added: “People are telling me they are scared they will have a heart attack and die because there is now heightened awareness of the fact that the cath lab is closed every evening after 5pm and at the weekend. Most heart attacks occur at these times. All we are asking for is a fighting chance and we are being denied that”
SEPAG’s statement added that both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin have agreed the terms of a motion which they hope can be agreed by the rest of the Dáil today (Tuesday).
Said Hilary O’Neill: “Statements can then be allowed to be taken in view of the urgency of the matter and hopefully the motion will be passed before Friday. SEPAG are calling on Simon Harris to meet with the relevant parties today (Tuesday) to agree the terms of the Motion and to the immediate implementation of 24/7 cardiac care at UHW.”
“There is no reason for any more delays,” said SEPAG’s Yvonne Cooney. “A man has died simply because of where he lived even though he lived 10 minutes away from a Category 4 Acute Hospital. It is medical apartheid and we can no longer tolerate this disgraceful situation. We are being denied a basic standard of care.”
