The people are sick and tired of HSE’s chronic inefficiency

IT IS understandable that, at

85, all Patricia Stokes wants to do is get home. Instead, she has been in hospital for six months, first at Mayo University Hospital in Castlebar, and now in Belmullet Community Hospital since April.

Apart from needing help to get dressed and washed, Patricia is able to live independently, and could easily do so with a proper home care arrangement in place. In the relevant HSE area covering Mayo, Galway and Roscommon alone, there are 586 people on the waiting list for such assistance, and just under 6,000 nationwide. Now, with the recruitment freeze for 2024 announced by HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster, Patricia’s chances of getting home are slimmer than ever.

She is just one of the thousands who will be affected by the decision which, Mr Gloster said, was unavoidable because of a lack of funding provision in Budget 2024. That, though, is far from the only reason.

The health service has been running on fumes for years, no matter how much extra money is pumped into it, because we have a rising population all struggling to access the same services – corrective surgeries for children who desperately need them, the provision of adequate mental health services, the diagnostic deficits that occurred during the pandemic lockdowns that have left a cancer time bomb ticking, and treatment for lifestyle-driven conditions such as diabetes.

There will, we know, be a supplementary bailout for the health service this year because, even as the 2023 HSE budget was being struck, warnings over the fact it was €2bn shy of what was needed – as was first revealed in this newspaper – led to the resignation of a senior board member.

This year, as always, we can expect hundreds if not thousands of hospitalisations due to flu and Covid, with the consequent cancellations of elective surgeries and scheduled check-ups that will then add to waiting lists, and more trolley crises when beds are at a premium.

The Leinster House bubble seems more engaged by a spat between Health Minister

Stephen Donnelly and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe, which is telling. Mr Donnelly is said to have pointed out that a failure to adequately fund the health service as a general election looms is ‘insane’.

The real insanity is the failure, for years, by successive ministers, HSE chief executives, and Department of Health secretaries-general, to tackle inefficiencies in the HSE. Throwing money at it is necessary only because what should be adequate budgets are routinely squandered.

Mr Donnelly is right to assume that public anger at perceived incompetence will indeed affect electoral performance.

FLOOD PREVENTION URGENTLY NEEDED

THE FLOOD that devastated Midleton this week is a reminder that many towns and villages, not just in Co. Cork but across the country, are vulnerable to flooding as severe weather events become more frequent due to climate change.

Flood prevention schemes have languished on the drawing board for too long, and an immediate effort must be made to implement those already approved, and draw up a proper national register that predicts and mitigates these events, rather than reacting with half-hearted pledges of financial assistance.

The only consolation following Storm Babet was that no one on this island died – Britain, sadly, was not spared. Livelihoods have been ruined though, and Government must do everything in its power to help in the first instance, and prevent any recurrence as soon as possible.