WRH to get five new consultant posts in 2012
Fine Gael Waterford Deputy, Paudie Coffey, today (Friday) said that the actions of Sinn Féin in releasing an out of date and inaccurate document detailing proposed cuts to services at Waterford Regional Hospital (WHR) was irresponsible and reprehensible.
“In recent days, Sinn Féin has been making a lot of political capital on the back of information they knew to be inaccurate, at the expense of those who have genuine fears and concerns about the delivery of healthcare service in the south east. This is politics in its lowest form and it’s quite pathetic of Sinn Fein to act in such a manner. Sinn Féin scaremonger in the South, while in the North the Party is presiding over health cuts of £2.3 billion, proving they are a party of hypocrites.
“The final details of the WRH Service Plan for 2012 are still being finalised and will not be available for another couple of weeks, when the Regional Service Plan for the HSE South is published on 9th February. Economic constraints mean there will be cutbacks across all departments; we intend to minimise the impact to the health service by reforming existing clinical work programmes and improving the flexibility of work practices so services can be delivered more efficiently.
“The old way of managing budgets within our hospitals needs to be scrapped, because we no longer have the money to allow for huge cost over-runs. Last year WRH had an underlying deficit of €8m, and an end of year over-run of €2.6 million. This is clearly unsustainable. I understand that hospital management at WRH have agreed sustainable clinical work programmes for 2012 with the HSE, that will allow the hospital to remain within budget while meeting the care needs of patients in the south east. Unfortunately, this process is being undermined by some opponents who refuse to buy into a system of more sustainable healthcare.
“My information is that WRH is in line to receive five additional posts; one consultant endocrinologist, two consultants in emergency medicine, one consultant interventional cardiologist and one acute medicine physician. This is a massive vote of confidence in WRH, especially in a time of economic hardship. It clearly emphasises the Government’s commitment to the future of WRH as the main hospital for the region.
“We want to reform the way healthcare is delivered, so that more people can be cared for in the community and the pressure on our hospitals can be alleviated. We are already seeing tangible results; thanks to the work of the Special Delivery Unit there has been an improvement of 12% in the numbers on trolley at WRH in the first three weeks of the year, compared to the same period in January 2011.
“Sinn Fein may spout populist statements, but won’t tell us how they would realistically fund our health service and our economy. They would be better served rowing in behind the Government’s attempts to address the inadequacies in the current system so that we can ensure a world class healthcare service for all our people.”
ENDS