Labour Senator Phil Prendergast.
Some 15,000 people took to the streets in March of this year and a further 70,000 people signed a petition rejecting the downgrading of South Tipperary General Hospital.
The Labour Party now claim to hold a confidential HSE document which shows plans to reconfigure hospital services in the South East which will almost inevitably mean a massive downgrading of South Tipperary General Hospital.
Tipperary Labour Senator, Phil Prendergast, claims that as prophesied, plans are afoot for Hospital services to be centralised at St Luke’s Hospital Kilkenny and Waterford Regional, while the former is being promoted as the main general hospital in the region, at the expense of South Tipperary General and Wexford General Hospital.
If this plan is allowed to progress then South Tipperary General Hospital will lose all its maternity service and the Emergency Department will be reduced to a 12-hour service similar to the charade that masquerades as Nenagh Hospital in North Tipperary.
In relation to South Tipperary, Labour Senator Phil Prendergast stated:
“This will have a devastating effect on the whole community and on the very identity of South Tipperary. All of this will happen in the name of a flawed model of health care forced upon the South Tipp public by a discredited HSE, which is acting as the Trojan horse for those who want to make a profit from people’s health. There will be no more Tipperary born babies, people will have to travel over an hour in emergencies after 8pm, more jobs will be lost and it will be far more difficult to attract investment. In the North East, where services were smashed in the same way some years ago, several deaths have been attributed to the long ambulance journey for emergency patients and this will inevitably happen here. If Fianna Fail is willing to make generations pay billions to bail out the fat cat bankers and developers, they will have no problem in serving their paymasters who want to make money out of the health of our citizens.”
If this information is correct then from 6.00pm daily,(not 8.00pm, ‘tut tut’ remember your travelling time,) all residents from Thurles and its environs will have to make the following travel arrangements in emergency cases:- Thurles to Waterford Distance (85km): Driving Time Away: 1 hr 40 mins and Thurles to Limerick Distance (95km): Driving Time Away: 1 hr 30 mins.
In emergency cases please do try to allow for poor weather conditions, as we all experienced last winter, potholed roads near Rearcross and Kilcommon, and that damned traffic congestion caused mainly by so called traffic calming.
One Tip: Best pack a couple of blankets for the journey, as a few nights sleeping rough in a hospital corridor can turn out slightly cold and drafty. Remember this latter statement will not apply if you are lucky to hold health insurance, but do make sure that you have your Membership Number tattooed on your right arm. I have noticed the eyes of Consultants, Anesthetists and Surgeons actually light up, when Vhi is mentioned, indicating that they prefer this method of payment at reception.
It is important also to remember that if you die along the way, do have the courtesy to die with some dignity, have positive thoughts about how you will be saving this caring government the future expense of your contributory Old Age or Widows pension, your 29 weekly payments of €18 for fuel allowance, not to mention that valuable free TV licence.
Die as a martyr for the HSE and your local politicians for God’s sake, instead of your constant whinging.
P.S Any chance of your ould No1 in the forthcoming General Election, Missus (Nod, Wink, Wink.) ?
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