It’s been a strange old week. We will get to the HSE but I want to start with One Direction. A line that I never thought I would scribble.
The perfectly manufactured pop band (whose recent hits include Best Song Ever – ed.) are doing a gig in Croke Park next May right in the middle of Communion season. Just because two of the class at the Gael Scoil in Raheen are being taken up to Dublin, the whole communion day has had to be moved. I am far from being religious but this is just wrong and here is why.
As a parent you now have a relatively wide choice about how your child is educated and the ethos you want the school to have. The very fact that you have got to the stage where the kid has already begun preparing for communion strikes me as if you know the rules of this particular game.
These rules shouldn’t be changed because you flashed the cash and have your parental earplugs ready for the Hogan Stand. If you were serious about the whole day, you’ll be ‘parent from hell’ for a day or two and explain why communion matters to you. Or is the white dress just another fashion accessory just like the Niall H tee-shirt your little princess will wear on the day? It just seems wrong.
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Wrong is a word which has clung to the HSE since its first batch of brass door plates were ordered by Micky Martin. Up until know the wrongness has focused on how impossible it is to get into the system or how much cash was splashed on administration. Once we got into the hospital or accessed a service, we thought and felt we were getting the best possible care.
Wednesday blew that out of the water. One of the themes of Undaunted has been that we are actually a very small country that should have easily enforceable national standards in all sections of society. Sectional interests should not be allowed interfere with national policy.
We can’t blame sectional interests on the shocking gaps in maternity services highlighted in three successive reports culminating in Wednesday’s damning one. The fault lies squarely at the door of the HSE? They knew there were issues and yet failed miserably. If I was a pregnant woman or partner, is my hospital safe? Has it the standards I expect?
It’s gone beyond a joke now. And it must move into the political sphere. We are on the verge of yet another supplementary Health estimate. The arm’s length approach by the Minister seems to have failed. The Dáil health committee is doing Trojan work in trying to understand how budgets are spent and yet it seems a black hole. Yes, health is labour intensive. Yes, people get sick at any time but our system seems surprised when this happens.
Have I a solution? God knows. But a solution where healthcare is delivered in a fair and equitable and SAFE way seems as far away as Kansas, Dorothy.
Undaunted is heading on holiday so be good until the first week of November. Enjoy the Budget and if you do want to revolt, do it with a smile...
