Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

Meath has had a hospital since 1767. For nearly 250 years, the people of Meath have been served by a local hospital. This hospital survived the 1798 rising, the disaster of the famine, two world wars, the Black and Tan war and the civil war. The hospital in Meath survived the hungry 30s and every recession since. In the 1960s, the population of Meath was about 100,000, yet the county had a fully functioning hospital. Today, the population of Meath is now 184,000, which is the highest population ever achieved in the county, yet services there are being slashed. Paediatric services have been lost, orthopaedic services have been reduced and suspended for months on end, and D-dimer blood testing is now outsourced. Interns have been removed from the hospital, surgeons have been removed and, indeed, suspended on the basis of evidence-free allegations. Training recognition has been withdrawn, leading to reductions in the number of junior doctors. Keyhole surgery has been cancelled and doctor on call services have been cut by two thirds. Psychiatric services are to go before 2012, and since September all acute surgical services have been cancelled. Nearby alternative hospitals are not funded to accept the overflow and cannot cope. The cuts have been chaotic and if, God forbid, a miner were to suffer an accident in Tara Mines, there is a good chance he would not able to survive, given how far he is underground.

We have had a massive campaign in response to this. Fifteen thousand people have signed the Save Navan Hospital petition, 8,000 people signed up to the Facebook page, while more than 10,000 people marched in Navan last October in support of the hospital. We invited Deputy James Reilly, then Opposition spokesperson on health, to address that march, an invite he speedily accepted. He promised a return of surgery services and a new regional hospital to be built within five years in Navan. Surgery services have not been returned and in recent weeks senior medical professionals in Meath have stated to me that the situation in our accident and emergency department is under serious threat. If these cuts go ahead, it will be clear that the promises made four months ago by Fine Gael and Labour will have been replaced by the continuation of normal HSE strategy.

That HSE strategy has been simple. The HSE reduces funding. This leads to the HSE making allegations of a reduction in patient safety. This in turn leads to service being closed down. If patient safety were at the heart of these decisions, this would not happen. Money is at the heart of these decisions. A recent INMO survey stated that more than 46,000 people were on trolleys in the first six months of this year. This marks a 37% increase since 2006 when it was declared a national emergency. An organisation that allows this to continue is not prioritising patient safety and is effectively prioritising the payment of private debt. If this Government accepts the straitjacket of the EU and the IMF, patients will die and people in provincial towns throughout the State will see a real reduction in their own life expectancy. Each individual Fine Gael and Labour Deputy is at a crossroads. Either they bunker down behind the EU and IMF plan and slash services, or they stand up for their local constituents and the people of Ireland, grow a backbone and support our motion.

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