James Reilly NOW supports closure of St Mary Ortapeadoic in northside of Cork City

CorkMan

During the election James Reilly supported keeping St Marys Ortapaedic open but is now saying it should be closed.

It is the only hospital in the northside of Cork City, if someone gets sick they will have to go to the southside now. It also has a mental health facility for people really affected. During the election he supposedly gave an iron promise it would stay open. Heard this one 96fm at the top of the hour.

View

CorkMan wrote: »

During the election James Reilly supported keeping St Marys Ortapaedic open but is now saying it should be closed.

It is the only hospital in the northside of Cork City, if someone gets sick they will have to go to the southside now. It also has a mental health facility for people really affected. During the election he supposedly gave an iron promise it would stay open. Heard this one 96fm at the top of the hour.

It is probably a case of he has read the budget figures and realises NOW that the money is there to fund the hospital on the northside (and probably isn't there to fund the one(s) on the southside either).

Wolfe Tone

View wrote: »

It is probably a case of he has read the budget figures and realises NOW that the money is there to fund the hospital on the northside (and probably isn't there to fund the one(s) on the southside either).

No its a case of getting the votes and now the peoples opinions and his promises don't matter.


Is anyone really surprised?

Corsendonk

Are you surprised? Easy to say things when you ain't in office.

meglome

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

No its a case of getting the votes and now the peoples opinions and his promises don't matter.


Is anyone really surprised?

Do you think there is money for this hospital?

sollar

CorkMan wrote: »

During the election James Reilly supported keeping St Marys Ortapaedic open but is now saying it should be closed.

It is the only hospital in the northside of Cork City, if someone gets sick they will have to go to the southside now. It also has a mental health facility for people really affected. During the election he supposedly gave an iron promise it would stay open. Heard this one 96fm at the top of the hour.

Its only across the city.

OhNoYouDidn't

CorkMan wrote: »

if someone gets sick they will have to go to the southside now.

Boo fcuking hoo.

Soldie

I don't think that this is a problem, considering Cork is such a small city.

CorkMan

I am from Cork and let me tell you St Marys is vital to the northside.

flutered

CorkMan wrote: »

I am from Cork and let me tell you St Marys is vital to the northside.

tell that to all the folks who have to travel in excess of 100 miles to reach a hospital, ie from the lower reaches of offaly to limerick, because nenagh is gone.

Uriel.

CorkMan wrote: »

I am from Cork and let me tell you St Marys is vital to the northside.

Are you from the northside of cork?

OhNoYouDidn't

CorkMan wrote: »

I am from Cork and let me tell you St Marys is vital to the northside.

The quicker people wake up and realise that not every parish will have a hospital with every specialism the better.

We would all love the situation where a super hospital is based on our doorsteps, but reality dictates otherwise. We cannot afford to run our health system on parochial lines.

eco2live

Everyone always says that when local Hospitals close are vital to local areas. The health service is not going to close down a hospital that is delivering efficency and value. It would probably cost more to keep it going. If we want our health system to change then we need to leave them too it and not slow down the changes. In the end we will all be better off. They are not trying to make it worse or it will be worse politically for them in the end. FF were **** and were only interested in construction and spin.

Wolfe Tone

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

The quicker people wake up and realise that not every parish will have a hospital with every specialism the better.

We would all love the situation where a super hospital is based on our doorsteps, but reality dictates otherwise. We cannot afford to run our health system on parochial lines.

Then he shouldnt have lied and said he would keep it open. Kenny promised us honesty, a smokescreen for him to backtrack on everything? Where was the honesty when it was promised the hospital would remain?

FTA69

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

Boo fcuking hoo.

That's a great attitude to a hospital closure. St Mary's was and is a valuable amenity to the people of the northside, a part of the city that has traditionally been deprived and neglected of similar health services and other facilities. The majority of patients who use the hospital are elderly, and the closing of the facility will lead to a transfer to the already massively-overstretched CUH.

In short, working people are getting shafted yet again in terms of social services being cutback and it's happening at the hands of a lying politician who swore blind the service would be protected.

OhNoYouDidn't

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

Then he shouldnt have lied and said he would keep it open. Kenny promised us honesty, a smokescreen for him to backtrack on everything? Where was the honesty when it was promised the hospital would remain?

If that is true, then yes, there is an issue about promises.

But that doesn't mean it isn't legitimate to question the parochial element of the OP. So what if he has to travel 4 miles to a hospital instead of 2?

Wolfe Tone

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

If that is true, then yes, there is an issue about promises.

But that doesn't mean it isn't legitimate to question the parochial element of the OP. So what if he has to travel 4 miles to a hospital instead of 2?

Will that hospital be able to cope with the extra people?

FTA69

Because it is a necessary and vital public service, one of a few in an area that has a massive deficit of such services. I see where you're coming from with your comments about parochialism, but by cutting back on St Mary's isn't going to streamline local health provision or make services more efficient, it's just going to lump the problem onto CUH which already has a million and one problems and as such will result in an even worse standard of care for the city as a whole.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

CorkMan

It was reported on 96FM at 4 o clock. Mick Barry, member of the Socialist Party, said it was "very bad" that this was happening.

Sorry if I can't find a link online. But ultimately the story is mainly regarding the northside of Cork City, which wouldn't be at the frontier of breaking news. It will definitely be in the Evening Echo tomorrow. (Corks main newspaper) It was the main story on 96FM, which would give rise to the idea the announcement was made today.

EDIT: http://twitter.com/corkeveningecho

Dr. James Reilly does a U-turn on his pre-election support of the Orthopaedic Hospital. #corkecho

about 5 hours ago via HootSuite

mikemac

CorkMan wrote: »

if someone gets sick they will have to go to the southside now.

Cork isn't that big a city

With the downgrade of Nenagh and Ennis there are people from all over Clare, Tipp and Offaly up to and over 100km from Limerick Regional

They'd love this problem in Cork

CorkMan

feelingstressed wrote: »

Cork isn't that big a city

With the downgrade of Nenagh and Ennis there are people from all over Clare, Tipp and Offaly up to and over 100km from Limerick Regional

They'd love this problem in Cork

Would they love this problem in Dublin, Limerick, Galway or Belfast?

mikemac

I wasn't clear and that's my fault.
I'm not saying I'm glad to see services cut in Cork

But in the scheme of things crossing from the northside to the southside isn't realy an ordeal when people in the midlands are over 100km from their services. Just a comparison

omerin

You see that it doesn't matter if the nearest hospital is 1 mile or 100 miles, he came to Cork and gave what I believe was quoted as a cast iron guarentee that the hospital wouldn't close to the people he met.

People may well have voted for FG on the back on his promise, what's for sure is that people voted for change, what now is apparent is we are beginning to see the beginning of the end of the honeymoon period for FG in Cork at least. As Mr. Dunphy would say, we've been sold a pup.

dashboard_hula

Going from one side of the Lee to the other to get to hospital when others have to travel more than 80 miles is not a great hardship.

James Reilly may not have had access to the data required to make the decision during campaigning - now he's a politician for saying he'd keep it open, but he's a responsible minister for deciding to close it if it's not being run properly/a waste of money/resources would be better off somewhere else.

Cork has a million hospitals. What gives?

As a previous poster stated, you can't expect every county and parish to have a fully equipped hospital catering for all specialities. We're only small.

sollar

omerin wrote: »

You see that it doesn't matter if the nearest hospital is 1 mile or 100 miles, he came to Cork and gave what I believe was quoted as a cast iron guarentee that the hospital wouldn't close to the people he met.

People may well have voted for FG on the back on his promise, what's for sure is that people voted for change, what now is apparent is we are beginning to see the beginning of the end of the honeymoon period for FG in Cork at least. As Mr. Dunphy would say, we've been sold a pup.

If he really did lie than that is not acceptable and is more a sign that the old politics lives on.

But if its surplus to requirements then the money is better used elsewhere.

Sand

Various services are going to have to be consolidated - its not possible to have a hospital on every street corner, or every hamlet over 100 souls. People are just going to have to get used to it - this is a small country, theres not a lot of money in the kitty, and our national politicians, especially Ministers, have to make decisions that are in the best interests of the nation as a whole - not just what is in the interests of northside Cork. Hence Reilly might actually prefer for the hospital to be open on a personal level - but on a national level, acting as Minister the numbers dont add up and he implements government policy.

If the OP wants Reilly to only represent the interests of northside Cork then Reilly would need to first resign as Minister as he couldnt be trusted to make decisions in the national interest. If the OP feels he was fooled by Reilly denying the hospital would be closed, then he was simply fooling himself if he thought Reilly could make any guarantees.

CorkMan

Eh, the northside had another hospital before in the 80's called the North Infirmary, which was shut down. This put a lot of pressure on St Marys. Now they are closing down St Marys, leaving the northside with 0 hospitals.

Southside has the CUH, ATM the Cork Medical Centre and the Mercy and the South Infirmary are much easier to access from the southside. They are right on the south of the city center, where a southside person only has to travel up a very good road (as both CIT and UCC are in the southside) while a northside person has to travel through the northside then through the city.

I don't get the argument about places up the country having no hospitals and needing to travel 100KM. So if a person gets a banger they're dead? Lets face it, lets take Dublins main northside hospital. If a politician promised to keep that open and then did a complete u-turn it would not be accepted in.the.least.

Various services are going to have to be consolidated - its not possible to have a hospital on every street corner, or every hamlet over 100 souls.

St Marys is the only hospital in the northside, which covers Mayfield, the Glen, Farranree, Gurranabraher, Knocknaheeny and Blackpool. It is a far call from every street corner or every 100 souls.

Soldie

Population: 119,418
Area: 37.3 km²

By international standards Cork is a hamlet, so I think one hospital should suffice.

K-9

He shouldn't have made the promise initially, otherwise it is just FF politicking.

Amazotheamazing

I can understand why people on the northside of Cork city want a hospital, but is there a real case as to why there should be hospital there when we know cutbacks have to made across the HSE? Just how much of a burden is it for them to go to a hospital on the southside?

As has been pointed out, Cork is relatively well served by hospitals relative to other parts of Ireland, it can't be surprising that a well served area will lose out by cutbacks.

Dannyboy83

CorkMan wrote: »

Eh, the northside had another hospital before in the 80's called the North Infirmary, which was shut down. This put a lot of pressure on St Marys. Now they are closing down St Marys, leaving the northside with 0 hospitals.

Southside has the CUH, ATM the Cork Medical Centre and the Mercy and the South Infirmary are much easier to access from the southside. They are right on the south of the city center, where a southside person only has to travel up a very good road (as both CIT and UCC are in the southside) while a northside person has to travel through the northside then through the city.

I agree it's not nice to see hospitals closing, but to put it in perspective, the brand new Cork Medical Centre is also now closed after just 5 months!
http://www.thejournal.ie/vhi-rejects-price-match-offer-for-cork-medical-centre-faces-closure-2011-03/

So it's not like the Northside is losing out at the expense of the Southside.
It's just a local picture of what is happening nationwide.

The Mercy is smack bang city centre.
The Mercy is a lot more accessible from the Northside than the South side - it's just off Shandon street/Washington St.
Trying to get to the Mercy from the Southside is a ballache.
There is also the clinic in Blackpool.

There is Our Lady's Psychiatric in Shanakiel.

The South infirmary is a lot more accessible from the Southside, as is the Bons, but even so, it's the same for someone going from Grange or Passage West to the South infirmary, as it is for someone going from Knocka to the Mercy.
CUH is fairly city centre too.

The only hospital which was strictly southside was the Cork Medical Centre.
And that's gone.
The only hospital which was strictly northside was St.Marys.
And that's soon to be gone.

Everything else is by and large concentrated in the city centre.

=====
They just built a new Revenue office in Blackpool which really should have been the site for a new hospital serving the Northside and North Cork.

And have one larger one serving the southside and South/West/East.

I don't understand why there are so many smaller hospitals located so close to each other across the city centre.
Oddly, consolidation was supposed to be one of the objectives of the HSE.
As opposed to the new UHI system, which will rely on smaller hospital competing with each other.

regress

It's not that big an ordeal to have to cross the river to get to a hospital. It's primarily a local pride thing. Northsiders want their own hospital. My recollection is that Mick Barry sent out negative attack leaflets attacking Dara Murphy for saying that hospital would remain open. Barry called him a liar as he said FG would close it.

Einhard

It's nice to see that Ireland is still as parochial as ever. I look forward to this country being up shit creek without a paddle again in 20 years, because so many of the electorate can't seem to get it through their heads that the government has to make decisions in the best interests of the nation, and not individual constituencies.

What's the bigger scandal- that O'Reilly may have lied about keeping the hospital open, or that people demand that a possibly inefficent, unaffordable facility remain open to satisfy local pride and parochial sensibilities? It's depressing, but this country will never change.

invinciblePRSTV

The HSE's grand plan for the south west is to consolidate all services into the CUH & Kerry General and let the private sector pick up the slack, something as we've seen this week with the Mahon private hospital is proving to be a failing strategy. Until such time the coalition spells out out their much vaunted plans for UHI, there should be a freeze on any hospital closures in the Cork metro area. Although i'm neutral on the closing of the orthopaedic, it's the potential closure of the South Infirmary which is most concerning. I imagine Kathleen Lynch will stick her oar in here somewhere with regards to both.

Soldie wrote: »

Population: 119,418
Area: 37.3 km²

By international standards Cork is a hamlet, so I think one hospital should suffice.

Stunningly inaccurate. Well done on posting the population of the Cork City council area, but the Cork metropolitan area has in excess of 300,000 people. Try harder next time.

R P McMurphy

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

The quicker people wake up and realise that not every parish will have a hospital with every specialism the better.

We would all love the situation where a super hospital is based on our doorsteps, but reality dictates otherwise. We cannot afford to run our health system on parochial lines.

I think a lot of people would accept that but the process of reducing services in one hospital and then not upscaling in the designated hospital is kind of undermining peoples' confidence, would you not accept that

K-9

Einhard wrote: »

It's nice to see that Ireland is still as parochial as ever. I look forward to this country being up shit creek without a paddle again in 20 years, because so many of the electorate can't seem to get it through their heads that the government has to make decisions in the best interests of the nation, and not individual constituencies.

What's the bigger scandal- that O'Reilly may have lied about keeping the hospital open, or that people demand that a possibly inefficent, unaffordable facility remain open to satisfy local pride and parochial sensibilities? It's depressing, but this country will never change.

O'Reilly was the FG Spokesman on Health and now Minister for Health. If he can't be honest on their Health plans well...............................

I agree with you though, same crap was going on in Letterkenny, candidates at each others throat over cancer facilities.

I know services have to be rationalised but when Gilmore, Kenny and Martin are telling people they'll be honest etc. etc. stop the fecking promises then!

johnnyskeleton

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

Then he shouldnt have lied and said he would keep it open. Kenny promised us honesty, a smokescreen for him to backtrack on everything? Where was the honesty when it was promised the hospital would remain?

The new government is going to carry on the exact same as the old. Same bailout deal, same addiction to throwing money into the banking black hole, same vote buying exercises closer to the election, keeping taxes, welfare and public services the same.

So when you look at it, it seems that the new government is the exact same, except with one vital difference. FF were absolutely beholden to the developers and other vested interests, FG are merely flirting with them, while Labour are staunchly against the VIs. So at the very least there will be some increase in honestly as regards pure corruption. But in terms of how they will govern, it will be broadly the same.