This is what ‘normal’ is like if you’re sick in Ireland, Mr Varadkar

Open letter details hospital visit by man with leukaemia

A WOMAN whose brother has leukaemia and Down Syndrome but was left for 24 hours on a hospital trolley this week has written an open letter to the Taoiseach in a desperate call for him to recognise how awful ‘normal’ in the health service has become.

Orla O’Regan Murphy referred to ‘normal’ after Mr Varadkar won plaudits this week for his ‘regular Joe’ persona when an Irish waitress tweeted about his relaxed demeanour when she failed to recognise him as he queued for a table in her Chicago restaurant.

Ms O’Regan Murphy’s quietly coruscating letter comes as fresh concerns are expressed over unusually high numbers of patients left on trolleys around the country. The HSE’s target of no more than 236 on trolleys was breached every day this week in spite of clement weather and no epidemics.

Ms O’Regan Murphy wrote that her 35-year-old brother Fergal, who has terminal acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, was forced to use an emergency department that was not ‘fit for purpose’ when he tried to seek treatment at Cork University Hospital via admission through the facility’s emergency department.

She compared conditions to ‘the 1970s TV show M*A*S*H’, a reference to a sitcom set in a Korean War field hospital. She described scenes of ‘sick people pushed into any available corner, in many cases not even corners but open areas without so much as a nod to dignity. This is normal in the Irish health system.’

She described how her brother, whose illness makes him particularly vulnerable to infection, became nauseous as he waited in the emergency department, and she took him to the bathroom.

‘He was so weak he could barely stand. I explained [to staff] that he needed to be able to sit down but no joy,’ she recalled. ‘It seems it is normal in the CUH to kneel on the floor while being sick in the public toilet.’

Her brother was moved to a ward after 24 hours.

On the day that Ms O’Regan Murphy’s brother visited CUH emergency department, there were 30 people on trolleys.

Yesterday she told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘This story is not about our family – it is about all families who find themselves having to use A&E Departments that are not fit for purpose.’ CUH could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Responding to the letter, a spokesman for the Taoiseach said: ‘The Taoiseach is working directly with Health Minister Simon Harris to try to improve some of the biggest challenges facing our health service, including reducing overcrowding in emergency departments.’

A spokesman said the Health Minister was ‘keenly aware’ of the distress caused by overcrowding in emergency departments.

‘The Minister continues to maintain an intense focus on a range of actions to alleviate the persistent and complex problem of overcrowding,’ the spokesman said.