FF/FG/Green Government - Part 3 - Threadbanned User List in OP

The deal with the private hospitals for additional capacity during Covid cost the taxpayer 115 million a month. Were they ever used? We didn't even use them to reduce waiting lists.

Were they ever used?

To my knowledge they were never used for anything. 115 million a month.

I did some research and we were both wrong. They were never used for Covid wards but were used for public appointments. This is what my TD in Galway said in the Dail.

Connolly spars with Health Minister over low occupancy at private hospitals - Galway Daily

Galway West TD Catherine Connolly clashed with the Minister for Health in the Dáil this week over the use, or underuse, of private hospitals the state is paying for.

Deputy Connolly said that private consultants at Galway’s two private hospitals, the Bon Secours and Galway Clinic, said that they are operating at between 20% and 30% capacity.

She also said that the public patients at Merlin Park Hospital’s rehabilitation unit were moved to Bon Secours, while Merlin Park has been “left empty”.

Deputy Connolly referred to an interview on Drivtetime with a consultant gynaecologist in Galway who has 350 patients waiting to be seen, 50 of whom require urgent surgery they cannot get, she said.

“The more I reflect on the Covid-19 crisis, the more it seems to disproportionately affect women and children.”

“There is no cervical screening, no BreastCheck, no elective surgery carried out and emergency surgery is very limited.”

“This is while we have the two hospitals practically empty. It is certainly 70% empty and God knows what the percentage is in Merlin Park University Hospital.

The Independent TD said that it is “the ultimate insult” that they cannot even see the contract agreed with private hospitals as it’s “commercially sensitive” when it is costing the state €150 million.

Responding to Deputy Connolly’s questions, Minister for Health Simon Harris said that Bon Secours Galway had an inpatient occupancy of 41% in the week of May 18 – 22, while the Galway Clinic had 26% occupancy in the same period.

“I get the point that there are challenges and difficulties. However, I still believe it was absolutely the right thing to do.

Minister Harris said that while the system does still need some “finesse”, it would be unacceptable for private patients with cancer to receive treatments, while public patients cannot.

He added that 434 patients who never would have been able to “darken the door” at the private Bon Secours hospital have had diagnostics carried out there. “Some 710 public patients had outpatient appointments in the Bons hospital in Galway as well.”

“The Minister is talking about private patients going into the public system where the public system has significant waiting lists”.

It “quickly became apparent” after the deal was struck that “the Minister is paying €115 million for empty hospitals.”

The Cabinet agreed later this week that the current deal with private hospitals will no be extended past June.

The government will instead seek to negotiate a new deal that will allow the state to access capacity at private hospitals in the event of a second wave of Covid-19.

The Independent TD said that it is “the ultimate insult” that they cannot even see the contract agreed with private hospitals as it’s “commercially sensitive” when it is costing the state €150 million.

Clearly the govmt is protecting us citizens from the stress of worrying how our taxes are being allocated to the private sector. So so so much care ;-)

She was very strong on the RTE drive time program the other day too, had all the answers, somebody should make her minister for health. :-)

But seriously. It's not exactly difficult to give a government TD a good flaking over health in the 1st week of January most years.

I see it was reported yesterday that speeches Donnelly used to make on the trolley crisis being entirely predictable have been removed from the Fianna Fáil website.

You'd have to wonder what the point of deleting them is when they are available on other sources.

If he's embarrassed by it or worried about being caught out maybe he could do something to resolve the trolley crisis (in general, rather than just this week's edition of it).

If you listen to the rhetoric from the different FFG ministers they all seem to put blame on some 'legacy' and try and deflect the crisis to past mistakes but they wont specifically call out who made those mistakes or what they are. It's all very cloudy and spoofy. It's extremely dishonest when all the experts say it's a capacity issue. Then the FFG ministers will talk about the winter plan blah blah. The plan failed at the first hurdle (surprise surprise) and they knew what was coming, they knew. The data from Australia suggested it was going to be a big flu season. They are absolute muppets and they think they can BS their way out of this one but the mood amongst the public has changed. There is a lot of anger out there at this annual overcrowding disaster. The INMO numbers were showing records back in August and warning that they were going to get slammed. Shameful government with their mealy mouthed words. You're right, they have normalised the trolley crisis and we will continue to lose our health professionals as a result.

Our resident opinion poll experts seem to have lost interest in opinion polls for some reason (not that I am surprised), but here is the latest one.

As usual, I take these with a grain of salt. FG are probably benefitting from name recognition as Varadkar takes over, which is not surprising that they get a boost, however temporary.

The main finding is that little is changing, SF have taken support from the left, the Government support is surprisingly holding up well for a mid-term situation, especially with the amount of sh1t that is being thrown at them, both literally and figuratively. Don't expect too much to change until the campaign for the locals.

Again, not surprised to the lack of condemnation of the sh1t-throwing incident in Galway on this thread, but there you go.

You never posted anything about the shiit throwing for us to condemn. The guy that did it is a complete simpleton. Stupid.

I did notice that you gave up on defending the annual and year round health crisis. I wonder why. How many times can a poster be proved wrong I suppose.

Happy to wait until GE.Next. I love this government.

Yes yes waffle waffle.

Every single expert last week said the problem was beds and staff. Every single one of them. All the consultants, doctors and nurses said the same thing over and over. The solution is more beds and more staff. You must have had your head in the sand. Typical FG supporter blaming everyone else.

FF's share of the vote lower than in their annus horribilis of 2011, when they won 20 seats. If things go on like this will MM face a challenge to his leadership?

I see lessons haven't been learned from the Robert Troy episode

https://www.ontheditch.com/damien-english/

The housing "summit" now looks like a complete sham for optics. Nothing new except Leo showing that he is getting tough on the housing disaster after 12 years in power. The public see through this nonsense and I bet FF are quite annoyed at this grandstanding.