Gross and continuous overcrowding – check
Cancer misdiagnosis – check
Neonate deaths due to negligent care – check
Medical card theft – check
Frontline services for the disabled cut – check
Pension and wage topups using collection monies – check
A&E departments shut, despite election promises to the contrary – check
Regular ambulance breakdown – check and check
This is by no means an exhaustive list. Rather, it is a mere outline of the litany of incompetence and ineptitude that seems to permeate every branch of the HSE and other health-related, supposedly “charitable” organizations. Some track record by a department that sucks up a huge portion of the national budget every year, and actually runs off budget more often than not. Where is all the money going?
Two ambulances have broken down in the country within the last 24 hours, one of them actually while transporting an emergency cardiac case. Fortunately for the patient, the two paramedics onboard did a good care job until a replacement vehicle was dispatched. Overall though, it took well over an hour to ferry the patient from home to the hospital.
These latest incidents bring the ambulance-related incident tally to three in the last month alone. The fleet has a mileage well beyond what’s acceptable. Individual units just get repaired and patched time and time again, rather than being replaced with newer models outright. These budgetary constraints do not seem to affect the pensions of those individuals at the top tier however.
It is only a matter of time before one or more fatalities are recorded due to a breakdown, or accident, or both.