Minister for U-turns
As Harris is left wrongfooted for third time in three months, is he…
PATIENTS shouldn’t have to go public to get adequate service from the HSE, the chair of the Future of Healthcare Committee, Róisín Shortall, has said.
It emerged on Friday that supplies of bras used following mastectomy operations were to be restricted in some areas, with allowances cut and other changes to the vital care needed by women with breast cancer.
Yesterday, however, Health Minister Simon Harris halted the initiative, having only become aware of it the day before.
This is the second time this week that health policy was reversed following public outrage at decisions taken behind closed doors.
Earlier in the week, an elderly man had to ‘talk to Joe’ on RTÉ Radio to complain that he and his wife had been separated by rules regulating the Fair Deal scheme, so that she could not join him in a nursing home.
And both incidents follow the National Maternity Hospital crisis, which saw the minister welcome the deal to grant ownership of the proposed maternity hospital to the
‘I will be raising this in the Dáil on Monday’
Sisters of Charity in November, only to question the decision when an outcry arose in April.
Reacting to the issue of breast cancer patients having their supply of bras limited, the HSE said this was done to balance access across the country, where geographical inequalities existed.
However, following fears expressed by women with breast cancer, the Health Minister said in a statement yesterday that he had asked the HSE to re-examine the decision, which has now been put back to the end of August.
Department sources said there was concern that the HSE decision had been taken for bureaucratic reasons and that Mr Harris had not been informed before this was done. They said there was a determination now to make sure that decisions are made on compassionate grounds. The source said of Mr Harris: ‘He’s not going to be afraid now to do that with the HSE.’
Róisín Shortall told the Irish Mail on Sunday the HSE should inform the minister and he should know what the HSE was doing, so that vulnerable patients don’t lose out, as nearly happened with breast cancer patients this week.’
Ms Shortall continued: ‘I certainly think it is outrageous that a decision like that would be taken, which would affect people at a vulnerable stage. We need to be ensuring that we provide support to people. It’s very hard to see how the HSE has taken this decision. It’s simply not acceptable to take a unilateral decision like this. They should really have consulted with the department first.’
Ms Shortall added: ‘I will be raising this in the Dáil on Monday. It shouldn’t be the case that a patient has to go on the airwaves in order to get adequate response. The decision has been reversed but you shouldn’t have to go public to get a sensible and humane decision.’