Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the opportunity to debate this issue. I am saddened, however, that we are debating it after a week in which we saw a terrible tragedy in Waterford. I remember Mr. Thomas Power of Bell Lake in Waterford who last Sunday passed away at only 39 years of age in an ambulance en route from University Hospital Waterford to Cork. He left behind a young widow, Bernie, to whom I offer my sincere sympathy, as well as to his parents, Eileen and Michael; his sister, Catherine; and his extended family and friends. They are the people who must now endure this terrible tragedy, a tragedy that was avoidable. There had been enough warning signs and signals. Many of us who have campaigned for many years to have an essential service provided have noted that the warnings have fallen on deaf ears to date. It is an issue that transcends politics. All political representatives in Waterford, of all political parties and none, are fully behind the campaign to have an essential service delivered, not in a county hospital but a regional hospital that serves a catchment population of 500,000 people. That is a fact.

In 2017 we are experiencing health apartheid in the south east. As a Government Senator, a former Deputy, a former Minister of State and a colleague of the Minister, I take no pride in stating this in Seanad Éireann. People living in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway are not experiencing the same problem because they have access to 24-7 cardiology services. We in the south east, a vast region with a large population, do not have access to a cardiology service. Therefore, we are being treated as second-class citizens. There is a population of 500,000 people and it is a regional hospital. We are not expecting 24-7 care in every hospital in every county, but we are expecting one additional cath lab to be provided in University Hospital Waterford to service the entire south-east region.

I have written commitments, dating from as far back as 2013, from the Minister's predecessor in the Department of Health, the architect of the new hospital groups, Professor John Higgins, the CEO of the South/South-West Hospital Group, Mr. Gerry O'Dwyer, and the director-general of the HSE, all of whom have committed in writing to the expansion of cardiac services in University Hospital Waterford. What has changed? The Herity report, commissioned by the Government, is, unfortunately, being stood over. With all due respect to the Minister and his officials, it is flawed because it takes into account only a fraction of the 500,000 people living in the south-east region. It states quite clearly that people living in the south east can be transferred to Cork University Hospital within 90 minutes. That is a patent untruth and not a fact. Anybody living in Waterford who has to travel to Cork will tell the Minister that it takes much longer than that to get to Cork University Hospital. The problem is that we cannot gain access to the vital services within the golden hour, as it is called. That is where the report is fundamentally flawed.

I do not want to criticise bureaucrats and officials in the Department of Health, but on this occasion I am going to do so because they are wrong. The advice they have been giving to the Minister is wrong. The advice and information the HSE gave to Professor Herity prior to the issuing of his report was wrong. It told him that extending the service in a geographical area that did not have the population to justify the provision of such a service would be wasteful of very limited resources. This tells me that HSE bureaucrats are considering budgets rather than the health needs of citizens.

I always have faith in politics, which is why I entered it. I believe politicians who have a democratic mandate and are elected by the people can overrule the bureaucrats who are number crunchers. That is all they are. That is why I appeal passionately to the Minister to revisit the issue. I am saying this on behalf of the people I represent in Waterford. The Minister should look under the rocks and take account of the population and travel times. People are being isolated and left to die. That is what is happening. We have one case that is very public, but I know of another, a case in which a man died while being transferred from University Hospital Waterford to Cork. He died in Clonmel, which is not en route and I still have not got to the bottom of it. That is what is going on in the country, but the Minister is not hearing it. He is only hearing one side from his officials and we need to get to the bottom of it. I join my Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and Green Party colleagues because we are united as citizens of the country in demanding a right for the people we represent. I will continue with that fight.