Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am deeply disappointed with what I have heard from Dr. Niall Herity with regard to the levels of consultation he had before he prepared and finalised his report. I find it unbelievable he did not consult with the cardiologists in Wexford and Tipperary. I find it completely unbelievable that he did not consult with Professor John Higgins, the architect of the hospital group reconfiguration and who published a report on it in 2013. That was a fundamental mistake. Why did Dr. Niall Herity not do that? It was his strategy which the Government and the Health Service Executive, HSE, adopted in creating the critical mass and efficiencies within the hospital group networks. We are talking about a regional hospital with a legitimate aspiration to level four. This is not a county hospital we are talking about.

With regard to the catchment population, the chief executive of the hospital group told me in 2013 that the provision of invasive cardiology procedures is both a clinical and political priority. Did he say the same to Dr. Niall Herity when he met him before the report was drafted?

While I do not doubt Dr. Niall Herity’s expertise, according to his analysis, if one cath lab is open 40 hours a week and draws a catchment population of 280,000, then that figure would not increase substantially if that cath lab were open for 168 hours a week, which is 24-7, with a second laboratory available. I contend it would. Any logical person would too. If it is available, then people will obviously use the service.

With regard to the 90-minute golden time to which we all refer, I find it deeply disappointing that Dr. Niall Herity has a two-minute margin in his recommendations to transfer people from University Hospital Waterford to Cork University Hospital. That is a critical life or death intervention but Dr. Herity allows a two-minute margin without any allowances for ongoing roadworks on the N25. More importantly, there is no allowance for people in my area who have to travel ten miles to get to University Hospital Waterford in the first place. It probably takes them 45 minutes to get there. They then have to add another 90 minutes on top of that, all going well. These people are outside the critical time. I respect Dr. Herity’s professionalism but he said he did not have the time to see how he would recommend that these patients outside the 90 minutes receive the best care. I am sorry but these people do not have the time either. They have had a heart attack and need critical intervention.

Dr. Herity, as a professional, had a clinical opportunity to give an entire region adequate cover for cardiology intervention. I do not doubt his aspirations and all he stands for but I am telling him passionately that there is a region left in deficit. He referred to other regions in the north west but they are also in deficit. In time, they will also have to be addressed. Here was the opportunity to address the south-east region, not a county, a parish or a little village. This is a regional and national issue. I am deeply disappointed this opportunity was missed.