This week, Councillor John Kelly has condemned the HSE and its perpetual wastage of funds. “I am calling on the present or future Minister for Health to ensure that their new years resolution should be to disband the HSE and acknowledge that it was one very big mistake in the first place.

The problems associated with its establishment seem to be getting worse by the day. The HSE are now proposing to create a further 9 Regional Directors so as to create another link between the Senior Executive grades that are presently there and Professor Drumm. This was reported on a national newspaper a few weeks ago and many HSE frontline staff has serious reservations about this ridiculous waste of money proposal. It is not long since the Minister for Finance Brian Lenehan admitted following his much disputed budget that there was wastage at high up levels in the HSE and that he proposed to put a redundancy package in place to deal with the issue. Less than two weeks later he is proposing to facilitate more wastage.”

“The HSE that was set up to supposedly address wastage in the old Health Board system set about doing so by employing 100s of extra senior executives on top salaries and employed more and more as they thought they needed them, is now employing more because they think they too are needed and they are forgetting about the front line staff that people depend on to actually deliver the service and as a result the HSE has now lost its credibility.” He continued.

“We cannot allow 2009 to be the same or worse than 2008 when it comes to availability of a health service.” He explained. “We cannot continue to allow our Government to stand idly by and let the HSE reward the withdrawal of vital services with a bonus to a member of staff. No money for home helps early in the budget year. Join the queue for home care packages. No money spent on enhanced subvention. Funding cuts in the ambulance service putting lives at risk, closures of wards in our hospitals with closure of the hospital being the real agenda, same with A & E, no senior medical staff available in the County to sign off on Motorised Transport Grants. The list is endless. When can anyone from Co Roscommon remember a Health Service as bad as this in the County? I have been an employee of the now HSE since 1980 and I have never witnessed anything like it and while senior HSE employees in Naas are on bonuses for saving money this trend will continue and lives will be lost. However, this does not seem to matter to them because as we now know, there is no accountability and they will still walk away with a fat pension and they will sleep soundly in the knowledge that they did what they had to do to achieve their bonuses, their pensions and their lump sums.”

“Following my deep suspicions over the last number of years it is now proven to me that the Minister for Health has fully lost control of the running of her own Department. With staff embargos at all levels of absolute need in the HSE it is insulting to the ordinary workforce to be expected to “tighten your belt” while at the top of the ladder it’s a policy of “loosen yours”. Happy Christmas to all and pray that someone in Government will see a little bit of common sense in 2009.” Councillor Kelly concluded.