Brady Calls for Hospital in Co. Wicklow

Wicklow News

News Archives

/ News /

Printable Version

Email this Story

Brady Calls for Hospital in Co. Wicklow

Wednesday, March 14 2007

Cllr. John Brady of Sinn Féin has called on the government to build a hospital to serve residents in Co. Wicklow.

He noted the State owns lands at the current Newcastle facility and those should be used. "It is central, on the N11 and easily reached by road from the eastern part of the county. This hospital should provide general paediatric, maternity, and accident and emergency services" Brady said.

His call was made at a press conference at Lawless's Hotel in Aughrim on March 14.

"There are very many good reasons for this proposal. The principle one is that lives will be saved. Countless studies have shown that the first hour after a medical emergency -- the Golden Hour -- is critical in saving the life of the patient. In other words, they should be in a hospital receiving treatment rather than spending time stuck in traffic on their way to the hospital," said the Sinn Féin councillor.

"The county now has a population of 126,000, with projections to grow to 139,000 in the very near future. Yet the government plans to shut down both Wexford General and Loughlinstown hospitals. That means there will be no primary care facility between Waterford and St. Vincent's in Dublin 4," said Brady.

"Imagine if there was a medical emergency in Wicklow town in the morning. How long would it take for an ambulance to get to Dublin 4 at that time of the day? That scenario doesn't bear thinking about," said Brady.

"In fact, if a resident in South County Dublin were taken ill, it would probably be quicker to take them to Newcastle in a 'reverse commute' rather than try to tackle Dublin's gridlock," he said.

"Loughlinstown has already been stripped of services over the past few years. Now there is a further plan to close the children's unit in Crumlin and Tallaght to centralise them to Bertie's constituency in the hard-to-reach Mater Hospital. Tallaght, of course, serves people in the western portion of the county. Its services should be maintained as they are," said Brady.

Prior to calling for the hospital, Brady was careful to undertake some research. "We pored over a study called 'Small Hospital, Big Service: Working Proposal for the future of Nenagh Hospital,' which was published in March 2006. This study was done to prove the value of smaller hospitals. We also carried out a survey of over 200 Wicklow residents to determine their attitude to the current health system," Brady said.

"A number of very interesting points arose from both endeavours. In line with this week's Prime Time programme on RTÉ, public opinion firmly believes the State is saddled with a two-tier system. 92.5% of our respondents said we have such a system. When asked if this was fair, 90.4% said it is not. I agree," said Brady.

"There is something fundamentally unfair and wrong in a system that forces patients to wait two years for treatment if they have no insurance, while those with insurance breeze in to see consultants on practically a day's notice. And while all this is happening, our Minister for Wealth (no typo) Mary Harney, is giving away public hospital lands to her cronies in big business," said Brady.

"Another very interesting statistic echoes the perception that private insurance means better results. 86.6% said it means faster treatment while 69% said it buys better care. It is hard to fault people who buy insurance when that is the reality. But it is desperately unfair to make the less well off suffer because they cannot afford it. That is a terrible indictment of Irish society, and a moral failing of this FF/PD government," Brady said.

"Sinn Féin is launching this campaign now during the general election to force this government to take action. Hospitals are vital facilities that are needed close to population centres. The stretch from South Dublin to North Wexford is such a centre. Yet this government is busy shutting, or "centralising," hospitals, post offices and Garda stations while it embarks on a crazy and ill-conceived Civil Service "decentralisation" fiasco," Brady said.

Printable Version

Email this Story