FF in scathing attack on Harris over waiting lists for children

A FRESH rift between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael emerged last night, after the main opposition party branded the Government’s record on hospital waiting times for children as ‘disgraceful’.

John Brassil, Fianna Fáil’s community health spokesman, said the number of children waiting 18 months or more for their first hospital appointment has soared by 4,934 over the past year.

And in his scathing attack on the Fine Gael-led Government, the Kerry TD singled out Health Minister Simon Harris for criticism.

Quoting from the National Treatment Purchase Fund’s waiting list figures, Mr Brassil, a trained pharmacist, said: ‘How is it possible that the number of children waiting longer than 18 months for a hospital appointment has rocketed by nearly 540% in just one year?’

In remarks that will renew the tension between the main Government party and Fianna Fáil, which keeps it in power by abstaining in crucial Dáil votes, he added: ‘Fianna Fáil forced Fine Gael to concede that their mothballing of the National Treatment Purchase Fund in 2012 was a retrograde step. In Budget 2017, additional funding was given to the NTPF to address waiting lists, but it has taken too long to see any impact.’

He said that if a GP feels a child needs a hospital consultant, the health system must respond in a timely manner but this isn’t happening, and ‘it’s putting a great deal of stress on families’. He said: ‘Simon Harris has had 12 months in office and it seems the total of his impact has been a rocketing in the number of children waiting. He needs to do better, and come with real solutions.’

A Health Department spokeswoman acknowledged that waiting times for children were ‘too long’ and said: ‘Reducing waiting times for the longest waiting patients is one of the Government’s key priorities.

‘It is for this reason that €20million was allocated to the National Treatment Purchase Fund in the Budget 2017, rising to €55million in 2018.’