Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In Waterford city last Saturday, in excess of 2,000 people marched in miserable weather of wind and rain to voice their anger and dismay at the lack of 24/7 cardiology cover in Waterford. The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, has consistently stated that he was accepting the Herity report because it was an independent clinical report. I need the Minister to answer the following question. A note was prepared by the HSE's acute hospital policy unit 3. This note was given to Dr. Herity and it referred to the growing public and political pressure in the Waterford region to build and staff an additional catheterization laboratory at the hospital and to expand the existing services to 24/7. The note states: "However, it has been the view of the Department that providing additional facilities and extending PPCI (angioplasty) services, in a geographical area which does not have the population base to justify such a service, would be wasteful of very limited resources". The Minister tells us that this was an independent clinical review. In my opinion, this is gross interference by the HSE.

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