A Crumlin Hospital patient support group has claimed health service management is playing politics with the health of child patients.
The Save Our Lady's Hospital Campaign was commenting after it was revealed by irishhealth.comtoday that the HSE has in recent weeks written to Crumlin asking it what it intends to do about the fact that over 100 children remain on open heart surgery waiting lists.
The HSE pointed out to the hospital in a letter on September 28 that 25 of the children on the waiting list were in need of urgent surgery.
Teresa Shallow of the Save Our Lady's Hospital Campaign said it would appear that the HSE was now trying to place all the blame for the waiting lists on the hospital, which has implemented major cutbacks this year to stay within its budget.
She pointed out that while bed closures at Crumlin were partly to blame for the long cardiac surgery waiting list, the problems there predated this year's cutbacks.
Ms Shallow said the lack of intensive care capacity at Crumlin was a major contributory factor to the heart surgery waiting lists, and the HSE had failed to act on a report completed last year which showed that major expansion of ICU capacity at the hospital was needed.
She said the problems with ICU capacity at the hospital existed long before this year's cutbacks were implemented.
The cutbacks imposed at Crumlin included the closure of a 25-bed ward and an operating theatre, along with the curtailment of staffing and outpatient clinics.
irishhealth.com has also revealed that the deficit for 2009 estimated by the hospital at the end of April was €3.1 million, before many of the cutbacks were made, whereas it was being stated publicly at the time that there was a deficit of €9 million.
Documentation released under FOI also reveals that Crumlin Hospiutal now plans to break even on its budget at the end of the year and the HSE now wants it to-reopen the operating theatre it closed earlier in the year.
Ms Shallow said there had been conflicting figures thrown about in recent months about the level of Crumlin's deficit, with the Department of Health/HSE and the hospital producing different figures.
She said it appeared that management at the HSE and the hospital were trying to blame each other for the problems at Crumlin, and that politics was being played with the health of children.
Ms Shallow said the Save Our Lady's Hospital group was due to meet with Crumlin management at the end of the month.
"We will be seeking clarification on what exactly the hospital's deficit was this year and whether the cuts that were made had to be made."
Ms Shallow said that while it had been confirmed that the new children's hospital to replace the exixting three hospitals would be built by 2014, this would not help Crumlin's position here and now.
