Pat's statement when visiting the A&E in Kilkenny

Labour’s plan for ending the chaos in A&E, which we are highlighting today, sets out a comprehensive and deliverable set of measures to improve conditions in A&E and across the health service. In drawing up our plan, we taken on board many of the lessons learned in St Lukes Hospital in Kilkenny. St Lukes is known throughout the health service as a hospital that works, and which has avoided the worst problems experienced in A&E units across the country. As I have seen on my previous visits to Kilkenny, there are a number of elements in making A&E departments function effectively, that we need to replicate.
As I have repeatedly emphasised, bed capacity is critical, both in terms of acute in-patient beds, and in respect of step-down facilities. That is why Labour is committed to building 2300 hospital beds and 1500 step-down beds.
We also need better organisation of A&E units and better liaison with local medical practitioners. A particular feature of St Luke’s is its Medical Assessment Unit, where patients can be seen, assessed and if necessary admitted to hospital without having to spend hours in A&E. Equally, it is important to have strong relationships with local GPs, to speed up admission to hospital based on a diagnosis made in the GP’s surgery. Too many people are spending too much time sitting in A&E, waiting to be seen by a less experienced doctor, when their GP has already assessed their condition.
Of course, we cannot exactly replicate the St Luke’s model in every hospital in every particular, but we can learn the lessons. Labour’s A&E plan sets out a series of measures to be put in place in A&E units across the country. These include medical assessment units, separate queues to treat minor injuries, better liaison with GPs and better facilities for GPs to diagnose problems before people go into hospital in the first instance.
We also need rigorous enforcement of cleaning protocols to end the phenomenon of dirty hospitals.
With these changes, and with the team-work approach which is so evident in St Luke’s, we can make a real difference to the A&E situation.

Backing the nurses

I was delighted to support the local members of the Irish Nurses Organisation and the Psychiatric Nurses Association in their work stoppage on Wednesday outside St. Luke's Hospital. It sems ludicrous that Mary Harney, who's turning into a fine replacement for Thatcher, and the so-called negotiator we have for a Taoiseach have led us all to this mad point where virtually all the workers in our hospitals, from doctors down to ancillary staff are either engaged in or threatening industrail action. I stated plainly to the nurses that I fully support their claim for a 35 hour week, something that is long overdue. I see this evening that the Taoiseach is offering to carry out a feasibility study into providing this- nearly 20 years too late!!

What a joke that one of our most respected groups of workers are offered a study into a 20 year old demand. I also told the nurses that I support their demand for decent pay although not be easy to acieve while the nurses stay outside benchmarking. I agree with Michael D. Higgins that it is vital for bith the ICTU and the Taoiseach to get involved to ensure this dispute does not lead to long-term damage to the industrial relations climate. Hopefully we'll see Liz MacManus as the next Minister for Health to sort this out first-hand.

A picture tells a thousand words-See the pledge videos here

The Labour Party has really adapted to this whole blogging stuff, and here you see how we're now using Youtube to spread our message. This is my first venture into putting video clips on my site, so here goes. The point of these two video clips is to higlight two of Pat Rabbitte and my pledges to you on the key things we will deliver if you elect us as part of the Government for change. To those of you without broadband in Kilkenny, my apologies if you can't access these.

Health Survey Results

During January the as part of Labours National Health Survey we dropped 2,500 surveys into homes across Kilkenny and the results certainly make interesting reading. Seamus Pattison TD and myself launched the survey locally in mid January.

The national survey shows 42% of people wait for over 6 hours in Accident and Emergency services, but this is only 20% in the Kilkenny area. The same applies for those admitted to a hospital bed with 85% of Kilkenny respondents waiting less than 12 hours for a bed, compared with a national figure of 49%. Unfortunately, this seems to lead to Kilkenny being at the bottom of the pile for funding of the facilities we are demanding, rather than being rewarded. The good results are a credit to the staff in the hospital and we should be proud of them, however the government need to address the funding short falls.

The other national figures in the survey are truly shocking. The divide between public and private patients is astonishing. 84% of private patients are seen by a consultant within three months, compared to just 30% of public patients. 98% of private patients virtually all are seen within six months, compared to 58% of public patients. As many as 22% of public patients have to wait longer than a year to see a consultant, compared to 1% of private patients.

This proves to me that in this country wealth and not need determines a person’s access to health care. If there has ever been a reason to change a government this has to be it. Knocking on doors, you meet people on waiting lists and you see the suffering they have to endure because they cannot afford to buy their way up the queue. You cannot but be angry when you see people left to suffer and the state ignoring their suffering.

Health cover for kids

On Saturday morning, I had the privilege of addressing the Labour Party Conference and speaking on our commitment to provide health insurance to all children up to age 16. This is an intermediate step and ultimately, our goal is to ensure that everyone in the population is covered by health insurance.

Healthcare and its associated cost are a worry many hard working people in Ireland, particularly health cover for their children. As a councillor and from meeting people on the campaign trail, one of the subjects most raised with me is the health system. For so many, the expense of making sure their children get the best healthcare available can be huge. Even a fairly routine illness such as a chest infection can end up costing parents a significant sum, between the cost of a couple of visits to a GP and filling whatever prescriptions are required. When it comes to health and particularly children’s health, cost should not be a factor for families to worry about. Personally, I have come across cases where parents will neglect their own health care needs to make sure their kids get well looked after.

I am proud to be a member of Labour, bring this commitment to the electorate and offering them a real alternative.

http://www.labour.ie/policy/listing/117017032186465.html