Waterford TDs call minister's 24/7 cardiac care response 'vague' and 'evasive'

Waterford Sinn Féin TDs Conor McGuinness and David Cullinane have hit out at the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, over a “vague” response to a parliamentary question on 24/7 cardiac care at University Hospital Waterford.

Deputies McGuinness and Cullinane said the response showed a lack of urgency and was “non-committal”.

“The Minister’s answer once again provides no certainty and no urgency. Phrases like ‘ongoing work’ and ‘further engagement’ do nothing for people in Waterford city and county, or the wider South East, who still do not have access to 24/7 cardiac care. 

"These delays deepen a real health inequality that people here live with every day.” 

“Successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have allowed this inequality to persist. 

"Their failure to deliver 24/7 cardiac services at UHW is a political failure, not an inevitability. 

"Their willingness to allow timelines to drift is a damning indictment of their disinterest in Waterford and the South East. The clinical evidence is clear, the need is clear, and the Government’s refusal to act is indefensible,” said Deputy McGuinness.

The parliamentary question submitted by Deputy McGuinness sought a start date for 24/7 cardiac care.

The minister announced earlier this year that funding for the service had been provided a recruitment process had begun.

In response to the parliamentary question, the minister said she expected the process to be complete in the “coming months”.

Deputy Cullinane called this a “stock” response.

“We have seen these stock replies for years. When I raised this months ago, I received the very same evasive, circular response. 

There is no credible explanation for the failure to advance this project. Clinicians have backed it, the community has backed it and the case for a full 24/7 service is overwhelming.” 

“Successive governments have let Waterford down on cardiac care, but together Conor and I will continue to stand up for Waterford and the South East. 

"Sinn Féin is fully committed to delivering a properly resourced, fully operational 24/7 cardiac care service at UHW – and we will not let this issue drop until it is delivered,” said Deputy Cullinane.