Hundreds of medical actions taken against west of Ireland hospitals
Hundreds of medical compensation claims have been lodged with the State Claims Agency against the hospital group for the west of Ireland over the past ten years.
The staggering figure was released to Aontú Leader, Deputy Peadar Tóibín, in reply to a parliamentary question.
The CHO Group, 2 which covers Mayo, Galway and Roscommon, saw 319 compensation claims against it in the last decade.
Mayo Aontú Councillor Paul Lawless said he is astounded by the numbers and reveals that the State Claims Agency has paid out well in excess of €2 billion in claims countrywide.
He stated: “These are astronomical figures. In my consistency alone, which is the CHO Hospital Group 2, there have been 319 individual claims lodged over the past decade.
"There are not just ‘cold monetary figures’-- these are human beings. We are talking about people’s lives here, their health, and we don’t know what injuries they sustained.
“We are constantly being told that our country is awash with money, but the money is clearly not being spent in the right areas.
"We know that there is an inordinate emphasis on management and administration instead of on the people who need it most –the staff on the ground who are doing the actual caring. It is they who need support.
"They are doing their utmost, they are dedicated and professional, but they are understaffed, under-resourced and under incredible and sustained pressure.
“We are educating huge swathes of health care professionals, who are trained to the highest quality and who are getting on boats and plans as soon as they graduate.
"In one sense, who can blame them as the conditions of employment in places like Australia and Canada for example are so superior to ours.
“The glaring lack of will to actually sort out our broken health service is one of the most galling aspects of all this.
"It seems as if our Minister for Health is so wedded to the idea of his ability to do the job, that he is blinded to the actual reality.
"It is absolutely unconscionable to be haemorrhaging vast sums of money on medical compensation claims.
"As well as the actual money itself, which could be spent on ensuring a health system that is fit for practice, sick people are being exposed to an injurious health care system, it is crazy."