TWOMEY CONCERNED BY CUT IN HEALTH BUDGET

Fine Gael’s Dr. Liam Twomey is concerned by the announcement made by the Minister for Health and Children lsast Thursday that the budget cuts in December will seriously affect the health service throughout the country. “As we know the government must find savings of 3 billion in next year’s budget. As Health makes up 27% of the entire annual government expenditure, the Minister expects that a sizeable portion of the 3 billion savings will come from Health.”
“This year the Health Budget was cut by 1 billion and this resulted in many bed and ward closures throughout the countries’ hospitals resulting in longer waiting lists and a large number of patients on trolleys. In Wexford General Hospital, there were a number of acute bed closures during the year and the closure of St. Aidan’s 25 bed ward during the summer. This has resulted in people being instructed not to go to the A & E in Wexford last week due to the large number of patients on trolleys, with 22 people on trolleys on Friday mornings. Cuts of 600 million are expected next year and could be as much as 750 million. Therefore, we must continue to fight to retain our 24 hour A & E service.”
“The government have had a one dimensional approach to improving the country’s finances – they have only cut expenditure and have spent money on the banks, with no effort to generate funds. They have taken the easy option and have continued to target the most vulnerable areas. As Minister for Health, Mary Harney should be fighting as hard as possible for her Department’s budget to be maintained to ensure that patients get the quality of services that they need.”