St Lukes Hospital Parliamentary Question
national |
consumer issues |
news report 
Friday March 23, 2007 16:21
by C Murray
Observe the ineffectual reply...
In Rathmines, Harold's Cross and Crumlin we are to lose St Luke's Hospital.
In fact, the hospital scandal stretches further than that.
We are to lose a cancer hospital which will be amalgamated with St James,
the high property values allowed Minster Mc Dowell's Sidekick to sign the lands
to speculators.
There is a clinic in that hospital complex used by the parents of kids with CF and asthma
called Lukedoc/Dubdoc- one TD from the area put down the question re losing our clinic
published below is the reply from Mary Harney.
Question 213;
Mr Gormley :- asked the Minister for 'Health and Children' where the Dubdoc clinic , which is
currently part of the Saint Luke's Hospital Complex in Rathgar and is an extremely important
out of hours service to the people living in the vicinity of this area, will be located when the
cancer treatment facilities are moved from St Luke's to St James Hospital: and if she will make
a statement on the matter.
Mary Harney's Response:-
"The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and personal
social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service executive under the
Health Act 2004. accordingly , My department has requested the Parliamentary
affairs division of the Executive to resond directly to the deputy in relation to the
matter raised".
Not good enough- we await response.
The Board of Our Lady's against the advice of Diarmuid Martin has acted
against the amalgamation to the Mater site- and rightly too, a car park
is no place for recovering children.
St Luke's is to go- for property speculation.
We may lose our out of hours service.
This effectively means that there is no emergency hospital service for the
treatment of children in:- Rathmines/Ranelagh/Rathgar/Harold's Cross/Crumlin.
In fact from the City centre to Tallaght on the Southside. This is PD health Policy
in action.
There are many children who require CF/Asthma/wound dressing and out of
hours care. The situation with the possible loss of those services in the area
between Tallaght and the city centre is indicative of how public services
are starved to benefit the profiteering speculators. This, in case anyone
has not noticed comprises minister Mc Dowell's vote catchment area.
Comments (8 of 8)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8it is one week since the published response to the Parliamentary question
regarding the Lukedoc/dubdoc clinic which provides emergency after hours care
to families of children with health problems.
No repsonse- if you read the parliamentary question and Mary Harney's
response above , you will see that she forwarded it to the HSE for
reply .
The question remains:- The amalgamation policy of the PD party sees
the complex at St Luke's moved to the already overcrowded St James
Hospital. The Hospital at Crumlin is to be moved to the car-park of the
Mater-site.
The contactors are stretched to the limit.
There is no reply as to the after hours service available to children and
cancer patients in the DSE area. Not all of us have VHI, nurse on call
and universal health insurance.
The reply- if it comes this side of an election, will be published here.
http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/1013...omnet
Politicians fighting for St Lukes include:-
Lucinda Creighton (FG)
John Gormley (Green)
PBPA.
The Friends of St Luke's Hospital.
The land was signed over to developers in quite recent times.
There is , as yet, no response to the Parliamentary juggling of the Question by
Mary Harney to the HSE.
The issue of the question was :- Where is the lukdoc/dubdoc clinic to be situated in the
amalgamation plans?
Again:- There will be no out of hours service for people in the area, with
the envisaged amalgamation of St Luke's and the proposed amalgamation
of Our Lady's to The Mater site.
Ruairi Quinn (lab)
Michael Mc Dowell(PD)
Chris Andrews (FF)
Jim O Callaghan (FF)
also loss of Harold's X postal services, due to death of the Post-master last year (RIP)
The pensioners now must take a bus to the GPO in Rathmines Village.
The buses are shite.(not enough on the 83 and 18 routes)
The village P.O is overcrowded.(one lady had to get a walking frame, cos she cannot rest
on her stick for long periods of waiting)
The weather has been cold (grumble)
Sometimes the main parties forget in the branding process that they are
locally mandated politicians.
The Schools are next: big issues there, a lot of kids have learning disbilities and are
relentlessly mainstreamed and deprived of psychological services.
The Our Lady's Hospital issue is problematical too- given lack of after hours care
with the threatened closure of St Luke's.
There is no mention of the St Luke's Hospital in Minister Mc Dowell's election
literature, which is always hilarious anyhow.
This election we are given a graphic of a book being thrown into a bin, the
title is about econmic progress and the blurb is about 'wealth tax"
Two TD's are mentioned on the literature:- Pat Rabbitte and Trevor Sargant.
The will throw your wealth away and the onus is on the Pee Dees to stop that
and continue the good work of :-
Losing our hospitals.
Press restriction.
Deportataions that breach Irish and international law.
Criminal Laws for sexual offences that Lock up kids.
Planning laws that facilitate the planner/crony lobby.
Privatisation of the old folks homes/pharmacies/transport system.
Funnily Minster mc Dowell has only attacked the 'alternatives' , the leaders of
two parties that could support a minority FF administration and not the Rainbow
alternative.
...........................................................................................................................................
anyway... We want our Dubdoc clinic and cancer hospital , thank you very much.
There has been no direct response from the Minister as to the
Loss of the St Luke's Hospital and Dubdoc clinic.
She passed on Deputy Gormley's question to the HSE.
The HSE are terribly busy these days- though they have not approached
the issues of the 35 hour week yet- or the 10% pay increase.
St Luke's will be amalgamated with St James- a busy Dublin hospital complex
Dubdoc- no response.
it appears to be an election issue in the Tanaiste's DSE constituency.
Minister Mc Dowell has put some large signs in his office window at the triangle
In Ranelagh denying that St Luke's will be sold, though the papers have been
signed for the proposed amagalmation, which will take St Luke's to the St James
Hospital campus by 2011.
Regarding the clinic at St Luke's which provides emergency after hours care
to the community (in the absence of GP service)
National Hospitals Office,
Health Service Executive,
Mill Lane,
Palmesrstown
Dublin 20.
tel + 353 1 6201740
fax+ 353 1 6201627
Dear Deputy Gormley
I refer to the above parliamentary question* .
There are currently no plans to re-locate the Luke Doc service- should this become
a requirement in the future the HSE would seek to re-provide this service in a location
accessible to the community currently served by this service.
I trust the above is satisfactory. However , please do not hesitate to contact me
should you require any further assistance.
etc.
Louise Mc Mahon,
Hospital Network Admin.
* The parliamentary question was simple enough, published at the top of the
article.Ms Harney's response was to hand it to the HSE (who have not really
answered it either)
Ms Harney has attempted to bring in legislation to build private hospitals
on public grounds.
The question of health service provision between the City centre and Tallaght
hospital has not been adequately answered:-
1. Our Lady's in Crumlin is going to be amalgamated under an FF/PD
regime withe the Mater site in the Taoiseach's constituency, the land
there comprises a car-park , with no green spaces and a traffic problem.
2. St Luke's will be amalgamated with ST James, despite the boards
in Minister Mc Dowell's window (which i have not read)
3.There is little provision for emergency and community care between
the city centre and Tallaght hospital under the current Minister for Health's
planned amalgamations.
The Crumlin hospital campaign is on the Newswire.The Mater site is
completely inadequate to provide a National children's Hospital complex.
The parliamentary question has not been responded to with any satisfaction
by either the minister for Health or the HSE.
My father was a patient in St Luke's Hospital. He passed away on the 28th of last month. I cannot imagine what we would have done without the unique gentle tranquility of St Luke's and the amazing care of everyone working there.
I have lodged a pledge at Pledgebank to Save St Luke's. The link is www.pledgebank.com/SAVESTLUKES.
Spread the word. If we all do the little we can, we can make a difference.
savestlukes@gmail.com
www.savestlukes.net
March -15th December from St Luke's to the Central bank at 12pm.
[All local representatives have been invited- this includes Gormley, though he has
stood over Mary Harney's Health policy and committed the GP to four more years].
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