Seanad debates

Wednesday, 25 June 2003

Council Regulation on Procedures for amending the Sirene Manual: Referral to Joint Committee. - Health Service Reform: Statements (Resumed).

 

My attention was drawn to this fact last year when visiting the home of someone who received very good health care the previous year. I noticed a pair of crutches in the house which the person said he would have to return. He had recovered from his illness a year earlier but no one asked for the crutches back. When he went back to the hospital to return the crutches which he no longer needed, the hospital said, "That is interesting. We lose hundreds of crutches each year." I gather the same applies in other instances in the big hospitals because of the impersonal attitude that develops as a result of size. I am concerned about size being the answer to everything, yet I know in the case of centres of excellence we must have size. We will, therefore, have to find some way of ensuring that those who run hospitals get much closer to clients or patients.

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