Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not accept that. I think it was a cost-cutting measure by any yardstick, and the briefing note of the HSE to the committee also goes through the costs of the significant increase in patients using this medicine. The sudden, overnight nature of this decision was appalling and visited untold trauma on people. Dr. John Goddard, a researcher in Sheffield, published an article in the Pain Medicinejournal, identifying a 70% effective rate for juveniles who used Versatis patches. He points out the difficulty with researching pain and identifying the optimal treatments for people.

I did not just speak to GPs but spoke to a woman this morning whose consultant, having done all the epidurals and beta-blockers etc., recommended Versatis patches. The casual, arbitrary, sudden and overnight nature of this decision was appalling and was not about patient safety. As John Lindsay said, in any other jurisdiction they know that taking people off a medication so suddenly can be injurious to them and damaging to patients.

The time for explanations is over. This has caused enormous trauma to too many people and the decision needs to be urgently revisited so that people can be given back their lives. Whether the Taoiseach likes it or not, their lives have been taken from them.

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