End the rows and f ix our health service
FOR as long as anyone can remember, the health service has been in a state of crisis.
Despite the vast billions of taxpayers’ euro that are funnelled into the system every year, there is no sign whatsoever of improvement. Quite the opposite, in fact. There are now warnings that this winter could be the worst ever in our hospitals.
None of this is good enough. Nor, however, are developments over the weekend likely to have improved morale either among patients or medical professionals.
Tony O’Brien, the former HSE chief, launched a stinging attack on Simon Harris, describing him as being weak and acting like a ‘frightened little boy’ during the CervicalCheck scandal. He also accused the Health Minister of being someone who ‘runs scared of headlines’.
Yesterday a spokeswoman for Mr Harris said he ‘does not believe in engaging in the politics of personal attacks’. Nobody can reasonably think that this particular situation should be addressed via the medium of megaphone diplomacy.
Equally, though, it is apparent there needs to be more interaction between the Department of Health and the upper echelons of the HSE. There is clearly a dearth of communication between the two.
But it is a bit rich for Mr O’Brien to be pointing the finger of blame in such a public fashion. The bottom line is that he was in charge of the HSE under three separate ministers and, during that time, services continued to get worse.
It is six months since he stepped down from the HSE amid the fallout of the CervicalCheck controversy. Following his illjudged intervention yesterday, it might be better for everyone concerned if he were to keep his mouth shut in future.
This newspaper will continue to hold all politicians, especially those ones like Mr Harris who are in charge of prominent portfolios, to account. It is important to note that Mr O’Brien was also running the HSE when both James Reilly and Leo Varadkar were at the Department of Health.
Given that services continued to decline throughout that entire period, the only assumption to be made is that he was also part of the problem. Mr O’Brien was a handsomely paid public servant and, accordingly, has a case to answer as well.