Seanad debates
Wednesday, 25 June 2003
Council Regulation on Procedures for amending the Sirene Manual: Referral to Joint Committee. - Health Service Reform: Statements (Resumed).
I sought some advice by speaking to someone who has been involved in the health service for 30 years. She gave me a very good instance which was similar to my own business. She spoke about joining a small hospital in another part of Ireland, which was owned by the nuns. Because they owned the hospital they knew everything that went on. They watched every penny and also watched the patients and got to know them. She learned, as many of us do in business and in our first jobs, from being close to what is happening. She later moved to Dublin to a big hospital and she could not get over the difference that occurred whereby there was no ownership. Obviously the hospital was owned, or certainly the finances were owned by the State, but no one was keeping an eye on the pennies so that the pounds would look after themselves. There was not the same closeness to the customer in business terms and, therefore, to the patients.
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