Wellness is a connection of paths: Knowledge and Action. - Josh Welch
How horrible must it be to think that something in your life that you thought had gone away, was always there because you were given the wrong information?
“Who runs the Republic’s health service?” was the headline of a story on BBC’s news website yesterday. I would respond with the answer “Who runs the country?”
Our beloved (sic) Health Minister Mary Harney confirmed that nine women, who had mammograms at the same hospital, had been misdiagnosed after been told they did not have cancer. That was bad enough, but for this bombshell to be followed up by the news that at least 97 more women patients have been told they have to return to the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise for further breast cancer checks after previously being given the all-clear just defies belief.
I often wonder about the government and their ivory tower and how they view life outside the Dail. Can Ms Harney, the HSE and the government comprehend in any form what all the women who went for breast cancer checks at that hospital are going through right now? Can they comprehend what all the women, that had a check up in any hospital in Ireland, are going through right now?
Waiting for the phone to ring for them must be as daunting as facing the grim reaper, but don’t worry Ms Harney you can sleep soundly tonight. It is always nice to have a cushion of an extra 25,000 Euro a year to rest your head on. Do you love the position because of the good work you should be able to do and how you can “help” people or is it just for the money?
Your pals are supporting you Ms Harney, which is always a good thing I suppose. Martin Cullen, Minister for Social and Family Affairs said that removing you as Minister for Health would be a “wrong and catastrophic decision“. In all honesty how wrong can it be in comparison to what is going on now?
Bertie Ahern can come out and say he supports you all he likes, but he’s got his own problems right now. So when it all hits the fan and the government is looking for a sacrificial lamb to silence the masses, have a guess who will be the first to be offered up? Yep it’s you Ms Harney.
You can constantly say that there is no magic wand to repair the health service. If it were an animal, it would’ve been taken out to a field and put down long ago. You can constantly say that it is in the middle of a major transformation process, but this middle must be like quick sand because there seems to be no movement from the position at all.
Our Tanaiste, Brian Cowen can liken the Health Service to Angola (all the landmines you see…humour and politics what a combination) but it won’t deflect anything from the fact that this government at the end of it all has not got a clue. Ms Harney claims she doesn’t receive information, so the internal email system obviously needs to be checked, until it is too late. Great, you’re in the dark as much as the rest of us and you run the department!
There’s no bravery from soldiering on when something isn’t working properly. There’s no bravery in blaming everyone else around you. There’s no bravery in letting a service slip and slide for too long before you finally decide to get tough when it is too late.
The only bravery I can see out of all this is from all the female patients who will have to go back with fear firmly entrenched in their minds and hearts and find a way to put their trust in a system that may have failed them once and not for something meaningless like a head cold. We are talking about people’s lives here, surely that must mean something or does one’s mortality not mean anything to those in the ivory tower who belief they are immortal?
Saturday, November 24th, 2007 and is filed under Pain and suffering, Thoughts & Questions, Views on News.
You can leave a comment.
m Says:
Remember we are all human and can make mistakes when heealth professionals do so the results are costly in human terms say a prayer for those involved Pray for better training and more funding for improved staffing levels in our hospitals in ireland and the uk
November 27th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Mike Says:
I’m reminded of a conversation between two entertainment personalities in America in August 991
” We all have our bad days”
“Yeah but most of us don’t have them in a row like you”
Anyone can make a mistake, but to keep on making mistakes at the same role smacks of someone who either does not know what they are doing or is too ignorant to realise what a fool they really are.
November 27th, 2007 at 11:01 pm