Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have submitted this Topical Issue matter in a bid to ask the Minister for Health directly to meet with cardio consultants at UHW who dispute the findings of the recent Herity report. The Minister indicated straightaway that he was accepting the findings of the report. However, there is a clear view in Waterford that a second opinion is required and that the Minister should listen to it. Consultant cardiologist Dr. Patrick Owens said that lives were at stake as the method used to determine the catchment for the laboratory was wrong. Dr. Owens went on to say that the issue should be revisited by the Government in consultation with local consultants and Dr. Herity. The consultants believe the review is flawed and they completely reject the findings of the report. The consultants pointed out that the report wrongly based its estimate of the catchment population for cardiac services in the south east on patient flows in the unit to Waterford. It did not take into account the constraints on capacity. They believe its recommendations were invalid because of this. Dr. Rob Landers also criticised the clinical review that suggests another catheterization laboratory is not needed at UHW and said that the south east of the country is uniquely disadvantaged when it comes to cardiac care. This is not parish pump politics.

This issue is overwhelmingly one of clinical safety for the people of Waterford and the south east. The Minister for Health says that he will not deviate from the report's recommendation. When a consultant says that a report the Minister is committed to implementing is flawed and that the Minister's decision could compromise clinical safety and that patients will die, and when the Minister says that he does not have a duty to meet with the consultants in Waterford, do they not at least deserve to be heard? I have already written to the Minister on behalf of the Oireachtas Members of Waterford and on behalf of the consultants. We are still awaiting a reply.

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