Public in Waterford advised to "schedule" their heart attacks in advance
Newly-elected Waterford TD Conor McGuinness in his new office in the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Sinn Féin TD Conor McGuinness has criticised the government for their “unfulfilled” promises of 24-7 cardiac care at University Hospital Waterford, in Dáil Éireann, during a debate over the Programme for Government.
“The attitude of the government is clear,” the newly elected TD said. “If you are going to have a heart attack in Waterford or the wider south east, you had better schedule it between the hours of 8 am to 8 pm”.
Deputy McGuinness referenced the Fianna Fáil party leader’s promises during the 2016 General Election of delivering 24-7 cardiac care at the Déise hospital.
“The promise of 24-7 cardiac care at University Hospital Waterford has gone unfulfilled over the last two Governments, despite the glaring need for such a service and the huge campaign that has galvanised opinion across the south east.
“As things stand, emergency cardiac care is not available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This level of service has been available in other regions as a given for many years," he said.
The newly-elected TD said that the government’s unfulfilled promise around cardiac care at University Hospital Waterford “seems to have been quietly dropped as the new programme for Government contains no mention of cardiac care at UHW, let alone a commitment".
“Despite the fact that two Waterford TDs, as they took every opportunity to tell everybody, were centrally involved in negotiating this programme for Government,” Deputy McGuinness said, labelling the circumstances as “a failure in anyone's terms.”
Teachta McGuinness described the current provision of cardiac care coverage as “simply not good enough” and remarked that those in the south east would have to “schedule” their heart attacks between the hours of 8am and 8pm to ensure they get medical assistance.
“The Taoiseach stood outside UHW eight years ago during an election campaign and promised that his party in government would deliver 24-7 cardiac care in UHW,” the TD said. “The people of Waterford have waited too long for around-the-clock 24-7 cardiac care. It is not surprising that even though the county had two TDs involved in negotiating that programme, it still has not materialised.”
A commencement date for the extension of the specialist cardiac care Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PPCI) treatment to the weekend is expected soon, with the start date having been set for decision on Friday, February 7.
