WATCH: Clarity needed on 24/7 cardiac care commencement
Cabinet approval was received recently for the commencement of 24/7 cardiac care for the south east.
Following the recent announcement that 24/7 cardiac care has received cabinet approval to commence, the Waterford News & Star approached HSE representatives to outline when the service could be up and running at UHW.
The received statement said: "The HSE is preparing an implementation plan (for completion by June 2025) for the restructuring and strengthening of our National Heart Programme.
"In line with the recommendations of the report of the National Review of adult Specialist Cardiac Services in Ireland, this HSE implementation plan will include provision for primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) for acute heart attacks at University Hospital Waterford on a 24/7 basis."
Meanwhile, Mick Daniels, of the 24/7 Southeast Cardiac Campaign group, said this week that the groups' work will continue until 24/7 is fully implemented: “We don’t feel confident it will happen anytime soon, and it seems to be the case that there’s no question or doubt that this isn’t going to happen soon.
“It’s outrageous that there are over thirty cath labs in Ireland all staffed 24/7 but when it comes to Waterford, we have a 12 hour service still.
“Anybody who is vulnerable, of whom I am one, is going to be continually stressed over this situation.”
Mick said additional interviews with concerned locals will be filmed in Waterford in the coming weeks.
"We're now in the third year of filming interviews with random people on the streets. We always have a lot of people who said they’ve been affected by the lack of 24/7 cardiac care. You would not believe the amount of people who told us stories of deaths.
"We will continue to fire ahead with our campaign."
A recent interview conducted by the group can be seen HERE
