Hospital services to be maintained and enhanced at WRH under reform programme – Coffey

Fine Gael Waterford Deputy Paudie Coffey has said that essential patient care services will be retained at Waterford Regional Hospital (WRH) in the new reform of Hospital Groups, which will be presented to Cabinet today (Tuesday).

“This is a national reform program on how health services are delivered in our public hospitals. The objective is to deliver universal healthcare for all and to remove the existing two-tiered system of public and private patients that currently exists. This reform and the creation of hospital groups or trusts with responsibility for their own governance and budgets is another step to achieving this.

“Following initial concerns about a possible downgrade of health services at WRH and months of engagement that involved consultants, health professionals, Department of Health officials and politicians, I sought and received confirmation in writing from the Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly TD, that services will not only be retained but, in many cases over the coming period, will be enhanced to improve WRH.

“The people of Waterford and the South East spoke loudly when they took to the streets to voice their concerns on this issue and that message was heard by Government. It also helped strengthen the hand of politicians like myself who were engaged with decision makers to ensure WRH was not downgraded.

“WRH will continue to be a National Cancer Control Programme Centre and Waterford will retain its current population referral base for cancer patients from the region and further to that, joint consultant appointments (such as general surgery shared with Wexford) across the hospital groups will continue to support the cancer services it provides.

“Currently Waterford Regional Hospital’s cardiology unit is provided from 9am to 5pm. The appointment of an additional consultant, as a result of the establishment of the hospital group, means further flexibility of staff across the group should be achieved. The goal is the provision of cardiology cover 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at WRH and this is to welcomed.

“Further to critical services being maintained and enhanced, Waterford Regional Hospital is set to become a major teaching hospital, as a result of academic linkages to the hospital group. This will be a benefit in terms of research, education and professional development. Waterford Institute of Technology and WRH will work closer together and the current teaching arrangements between WRH and the Royal College of Surgeons will continue.

“To deliver on these targets we need to invest in WRH and that is exactly what the Government is doing. WRH is set to gain a considerable number of new and replacement consultant posts in the areas of emergency medicine, dermatology and acute medicine. The expansion of the Emergency Department at WRH is almost complete and the new unit has almost doubled the amount of treatment spaces.

“The existing 18 bed neo-natal unit will be replaced by a 25 bed state-of-the-art neo-natal unit that will serve all obstetric units in the South East region, due to be completed by the end of June. The long awaited regional palliative care unit has progressed to design stage recently and, together with the support of the Waterford Hospice Movement, will be advanced further.

“It has been a long campaign since it was first suggested that WRH might be downgraded in the middle of last year. In the meantime, a huge amount of work has been done behind the scenes to make sure that did not happen. This was a collective effort, not just by politicians, but by consultants, hospital staff and the people of Waterford and the South East that has led us to where we are today.

“I believe that WRH has a brighter future and will continue to grow and expand to deliver vital services for the people of the South East, today, tomorrow and for generations to come.”