Health Service - Same Old Same Old
05/03/08 21:46 Filed in: Politics
Today, the third report
in to the breast cancer misdiagnosis scandal at the
Midlands Hospital in Portlaoise was published. The best Mary Harney (Health
Minister) and Brendan Drumm (head honcho of the
Health Service Executive) could do was say
"Sorry". (When I heard that it reminded me of an
episode of Father Ted, when Father Jack is ordered
to apologise to Bishop Brennan for exclaiming
"arse biscuits!" in his episcopal presence.)
The big problem with or health service is that it is a power struggle between competing vested interests, but the sector that relies upon it - the patients - are the ones with no power at all. The medical and administrative staff can withdraw their labour if they can't get what they want. The government and HSE can withdraw funding or close down services if they don't get their way. But what can the patients do? Sod all, in truth. They can't withdraw their illnesses and injuries. About the only thing they can do is try to shame the system and its people into doing what is right. But only so many people can talk to Joe. So for every misdiagnosed cancer patient that manages to scramble onto the radar of the national consciousness, there are dozens more whose voices remain unheard and whose health, or even lives, are at risk.
So sorry, Mary, I don't buy your act of contrition. You and your buddies in FF have had eleven years to sort this mess out. The only thing of significance that you have done is to create the HSE, whose only function seems to be as a convenient target of blame for shortcomings within the service.
The big problem with or health service is that it is a power struggle between competing vested interests, but the sector that relies upon it - the patients - are the ones with no power at all. The medical and administrative staff can withdraw their labour if they can't get what they want. The government and HSE can withdraw funding or close down services if they don't get their way. But what can the patients do? Sod all, in truth. They can't withdraw their illnesses and injuries. About the only thing they can do is try to shame the system and its people into doing what is right. But only so many people can talk to Joe. So for every misdiagnosed cancer patient that manages to scramble onto the radar of the national consciousness, there are dozens more whose voices remain unheard and whose health, or even lives, are at risk.
So sorry, Mary, I don't buy your act of contrition. You and your buddies in FF have had eleven years to sort this mess out. The only thing of significance that you have done is to create the HSE, whose only function seems to be as a convenient target of blame for shortcomings within the service.