Plea to recall Dáil to debate emergency situation at Mayo University Hospital

THE Aontú representative for Mayo, Paul Lawless, has called on the Dáil to return early from its summer recess to discuss the emergency situation unfolding in Mayo University Hospital.

Speaking today, Mr. Lawless said: “We've all been reading or listening to the media reports in recent days about the chaos currently being experienced by patients and staff in the hospital in Castlebar.

“The INMO have made extraordinary statements on the matter, with the Saolta group clearly in 'crisis control' mode.

“Ever since the start of the pandemic I've been taking calls from staff at the hospital, patients in the hospital, or the families of patients who were ill or who had died in the facility.

"Reports of crossover between Covid and non-Covid wards on the premises were fervently denied by the Saolta group until internal HSE documents were released to me under the Freedom of Information Act last year which included the findings of a report commissioned by the Health Minister and the CEO of the HSE, Paul Reid.

"The report found that crossover was an issue and identified a number of infection control risks on the hospital grounds.”

Mr. Lawless continued: “We cannot blame Covid-19 for everything. The number of patients with Covid-19 in the hospital currently stands at 13, which is not that high a figure when compared with Galway. Yet, in MUH there is not one ICU or general bed free today.

“Currently there are just shy of one million people on a waiting list for hospital appointments/treatments nationally.

“We are now in the early days of what I believe to be the post-pandemic surge in non-Covid related conditions.

"There were, throughout the last two years, serious fears of the hospital setting, with many vulnerable people opting not to present to hospital for fear of contracting the virus.

"The reports from that time in Mayo deterred people from presenting to hospital, and now we're seeing the effect of that.

“In a recent letter to my party leader Peadar Tóibín TD, the manager of the hospital - Catherine Donohue - has confirmed that more than 15,000 hospital appointments have been cancelled in MUH since the start of the pandemic. This is an extraordinary figure.

“We in Aontú believe that vital diagnostic services and treatments, particularly for cancer, should never have been paused. One million people on a waiting list is a public health emergency in and of itself, and merits an emergency response.”

Added Mr. Lawless: “Chronic underfunding of our services in Mayo is now putting the health and very lives of my constituents at risk. It is the view of Aontú that the Dáil must be recalled immediately to deal with the situation in Castlebar and indeed in University Hospital Galway.

“The Dáil must return and debate solutions to this west of Ireland crisis - if staffing is the issue then why don't we tap into the 70,000 strong database of workers who signed up through the Be on Call for Ireland recruitment campaign but who've gone virtually untouched.

“If beds and capacity is the issue - my understanding is that currently there is not one free bed in MUH - then we must explore alternatives.

“Every few months I bring a bus to Belfast full of constituents needing cataract procedures. We get the job done privately and the HSE reimburse the patients through the EU Cross-Border Directive. Couldn't this system be explored further, for other conditions, so as to free up capacity or reduce the waiting lists in Mayo?

“Either way the Dáil must return - TDs must come back from their holidays to discuss this serious and worsening situation as a matter of urgency and give this topic the discussion and time that it warrants.”