Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On standing for election I gave a commitment to the people of Waterford city and county and the south east that I would do my utmost for our regional hospital, University Hospital Waterford, and the patients it serves. Yet again, I have to bring the issue of the hospital's underresourcing onto the Dáil floor. Recent work on heart attacks by the National Office of Clinical Audit using data from 2017 to 2020 demonstrates that no patient from the south-east region is getting to alternative cardiac care when the cath lab at University Hospital Waterford is closed. In addition, in 134 blue-light emergency transfers from Waterford to Cork in the years from 2019 to 2022, the average time elapsed was three hours and 15 minutes. The national clinical protocol for heart attack requires cath lab access within 90 minutes from first responder. Every heart attack patient from the south-east region is exposed to additional heart damage and medical trauma and increased morbidity because of the lack of treatments available in the location where it is required, which the Taoiseach promised he would provide.

I have watched the Government walk through walls to build a hospital that is largely for the people of south Dublin. I have watched the Government parties whip their Deputies furiously to get them to support the national maternity hospital project despite misgivings as to its ultimate ownership. I heard the rationale offered by the Tánaiste, our next Taoiseach, in the debate in this House when he stated the maternity hospital needs to be in Dublin because if a woman has a cardiac arrest she can be in ICU within 20 minutes. The Hippocratic oath extends to the people of Waterford and the south-east also.

Over the past two years I have seen the Taoiseach in action. I would say he is a formidable operator. He gets his way. He can build a new runway in Cork in less than six months from a standing start. He can green-light the Dunkettle interchange. He is certainly a man of his word to his electorate and the people of Cork. On behalf of my electorate and the people I represent, I need a simple "Yes" or "No" answer from the Taoiseach today. Will he keep his promise to the people of Waterford and the south east? Will a 24-7 emergency cardiac care service be in place when he leaves the Taoiseach's office in December?

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