Whitfield Clinic open

mike65

Was coming past at about 4.40 pm and the place was crawling with Cops then I realised why - Bertie Ahern was down to cut the ribbon.



Mike.

Junior

I was passing a bit later Mike - nearer 5 - never seen so many cops with their thumbs up their hole in Waterford at once.

Mossy Monk

Bertie was down. pity i didnt know. could have thanked him personally for giving us the cancer care we need down here :mad:

mike65

Yeah its a joke is'nt it? All hail private enterprise cos the government does'nt care that much.

Mike.

Trotter

And yet we will complain complain complain, and on voting day we'll put them back into power. Ironic.

I'll scream if Waterford puts 2 FF 1 Lab and 1 FG back in again. We absolutely nobody else to blame if we do.

Mary Roche (Ind) all the way.. Time to shake up the Waterford constituency fluffy nest.

Cabaal

I've always been curious, did the groups looking for a cancer treatment center in Waterford offer to raise a % of the costs needed to build/run a cancer treatment center?

Or has everybody just bitched and moaned instead of using all efford put into moaning to raise some money and show the gov you actually mean business and take the whole thing seriously?

merlante

**** sake. Bertie has some ****ing nerve cutting the ribbon on that!

What I'd like to see:
1 FF
1 FG
1 Ind.
1 SF

Lave em fight each other like dogs then... only the best should represent this city and county.

Trotter

merlante wrote:

**** sake. Bertie has some ****ing nerve cutting the ribbon on that!

What I'd like to see:
1 FF
1 FG
1 Ind.
1 SF

Lave em fight each other like dogs then... only the best should represent this city and county.

Better they fight than sit in the Dáil like they've just had a feed of potatoes and are all sleepy.

No SF's though please. Not while they have IRA tshirts for sale on their website. Its sick.

Sully

Eh, Bertie was down for the opening of the other part of the WIT College? o_O

See: www.wit.ie. Front page article.

Unless he did both? Didnt think Whitfield was even ready yet!

JMcL

Cabaal wrote:

I've always been curious, did the groups looking for a cancer treatment center in Waterford offer to raise a % of the costs needed to build/run a cancer treatment center?

Ummm... is that not what we pay our tax for?

Baby4

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merlante

Trotter wrote:

Better they fight than sit in the Dáil like they've just had a feed of potatoes and are all sleepy.

No SF's though please. Not while they have IRA tshirts for sale on their website. Its sick.

Stick in the WP then. The socialists might be good for screaming in the dail, and if not, they'd finally have enough rope to hang themselves.

Trotter

merlante wrote:

Stick in the WP then. The socialists might be good for screaming in the dail, and if not, they'd finally have enough rope to hang themselves.

Hmm.. no.. Im not a WP fan at all. In fact, I actually think Im a raving capitalist these days. Im not sure what I am really!

I think I'll do the political spectrum test.


Im gone so way off topic. Is Whitfield clinic going to make any difference to the ordinary Waterford fella who faces the challenge of cancer though? Im sure the government could use it for public patients under the treatment purchase fund, but is it big enough to cater for everyone in the county who needs the treatment?

mike65

I'll be more than big enough for the local population, they'll be taking in customers er patients from across the South East.

Mike.

Sully

So where are Ambulances from the surrounding areas go to - Waterford Regional or here?

Who actualy will use this new hospital and for what?

mike65

Its specialist cancer care clinic so they won't be needing ambulances.

Mike.

Sully

mike65 wrote:

Its specialist cancer care clinic so they won't be needing ambulances.

Mike.

So its a new hospital for Cancer Care patients only? Both Public and Private?

Im assuming its different care then radiotherapy Waterford people have been asking for?

road_high

I'm very interested in this, does it mean people with cancer will no longer have to endure torturous journeys to Dublin for treatment? Will all patients now be reffered to this new clinic, public and private patients? Will all patients from the s east be now reffered to Waterford instead of Dublin?
Is it providing both chemo and radiotherapy?
My feeling on this is that it seems a bit like a quick-fix solution in advance of the election however if there are no catchs involved and the standard of care is comparable to that of the Dublin hospitals then I am all in favour of this new clinic.

Off topic here but what did people make of Ahern's stance on WIT University submission, he was talking about on the same day? He said the Minister (Hanafin) was (supposedly) looking at the issue and would consider the submission very closely. I find this a bit hard to believe myself though; afterall this is the same minister who stated previously WIT 'was doing fine' as it is now.

merlante

Private patients will not have to undergo any more tortuous journeys. Public patients will have to hope that the lack of the possibility for local public treatment will compel the government to pay for their treatment private... There is some sort of scheme out there, but I don't know how it works. In any case, it is an inferior solution, and there is insufficient capacity in Whitfield to cover the entire south east anyway, iirc.

I wouldn't listen to any of that guff out of Bertie. We've heard it all before. Nothing said while 'on the ground' should ever be taken seriously. Allegedly he said something along the lines of Waterford's boundary extension proposal being a terrible thing when he was in Kilkenny; he was probably wishing the boys in the city council luck on the proposal when he was down in Waterford.

Let FF repeat their comments in Dublin (the centre of the universe) and then I'll believe them. Until then, my understanding is that only one man at the cabinet table is gunning for a university in Waterford.

mike65

Whitfield is'nt a quick fix for the government (though they'll be glad its open of course!) the whole thing is here cos some brave souls in private enterprise saw an opening due to government tardiness.

Its run by eurocare in association with University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute for whom this is thier first foray outside the USA.

Mike.

JMcL

Trotter wrote:

but is it big enough to cater for everyone in the county who needs the treatment?

Cancer treatment is most often an outpatient service, therefore beds generally aren't an issue, so it's certainly big enough for Waterford county. The scandal with cancer care throughout this country is forcing seriously ill people to travel up to 5 hours over boreens that pass for national roads for what might amount to a 15 minute session and then all the way back.

I heard the CEO of the Whitfield interviewed on the radio last week, and the model they use is having a center of excellence, or hub, which satellite clinics in outlying regions depend on. Initially, the Waterford clinic is to be a satellite of Pittsburgh, but the plan is that Waterford will eventually become a hub for the south of the country in its own right, which sounds positive.

BadCharlie

A little bit off topic but i want to know how this hospital was named Whitfield? As its not in the direct location of whitfield in butlerstown.

And i found the whole thing very low key. Bertie did not want to see protesters, so much of waterford people did not know that this open day was going on!

Baby4

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Bards

BadCharlie wrote:

A little bit off topic but i want to know how this hospital was named Whitfield? As its not in the direct location of whitfield in butlerstown.

And i found the whole thing very low key. Bertie did not want to see protesters, so much of waterford people did not know that this open day was going on!

This is an article from Last Thursday's Irish Examiner... so to say it was low key is far from the truth
=======================================================

Ahern to announce cancer treatment service for south-east

Fine Gael TD John Deasy said that if Mr Ahern confirms radiotherapy for public patients at Whitfield when he opens the 65-bed private clinic on Monday, it will be a progressive step.

He raised the issue of radiotherapy for public patients with Health Minister Mary Harney recently. He says her reply indicates the four-hour round trip for public patients in the south-east requiring radiotherapy in Cork and Dublin may be about to end.

Ms Harney said the HSE is considering a request from the Whitfield to provide services to public patients.

Mr Deasy said: “Assuming this announcement is made, it is a step in the right direction. But it is also just an interim measure until we get radiotherapy at Waterford Regional Hospital as promised by 2011.”

Waterford’s Radiotherapy Campaign Committee chairman Dick Roche said the people of Waterford were ready to take to the streets on the issue again if there is any attempt to “fob people off” on services.

“The people of the south-east will not allow anyone to pass Whitfield off as anything more than an interim solution until radiotherapy, as promised, is developed on the grounds of Waterford Regional Hospital,” he said. “The Government’s own reports highlight that best outcome is only achieved when all three strands of cancer care are provided under one roof. That’s what we were promised and that is what we will fight to get.”