James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I begin by expressing my deepest sympathy to the Power family, to Thomas Power's wife and to her family, the Delaney family of Murrintown, County Wexford. Mr. Power's death is a devastating loss to his family.

The death of Thomas Power is a heart-rending reminder of the desperate need for 24-7 cardiac services in the south-eastern region. More than half a million people live in the south east. The existing cath lab is the only one that operates on a part-time basis. It is difficult to see how this is justifiable. How can it be that when patients reach the largest hospital in the south-eastern region, a university hospital, they cannot be given the basic services that are necessary to keep them alive? How can anyone stand over the fact that someone with chest pains who present him or herself at UHW before 5 p.m. on Friday is treated any differently to someone who presents after 5 p.m. or at the weekend? Why are those people made to risk their lives by having to travel to Cork?

Take my own county of Wexford for example. The popular village of Fethard-on-Sea down in New Ross is 180 km from Cork University Hospital. That is almost three hours of travel time. How could anyone be expected to survive such a distance? There have long been warnings of the risks of not having 24-7 cardiac services in Waterford. These risks are posed by outsourcing cardiac patients down to Cork city. It is simply indefensible. The people of the south east are being treated as second-class citizens. It is difficult to see how anyone can stand over a region of half a million people not having access to 24-7 services.

I appreciate the Minister realising the Herity report, but that report ignores the real consequences of restricted cardiac services for the south east. How can the State guarantee patient safety when critically ill patients present themselves at a hospital and are then expected to travel to a second hospital 130 km away? It is not rational, acceptable or right. A second review needs to be carried out on this situation.

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