Health

• An agreement between the Health Service Executive and the Whitfield Clinic in Waterford will see public patients having access to the private clinic's radiotherapy facilities. Local people and politicians had initiated a campaign to allow treatment at the clinic until Waterford Regional Hospital can supply such a service. For years cancer sufferers in the southeast have had to make the long journey to either Dublin or Cork to receive appropriate treatment.
• Following Monday night's Prime Time programme on RTÉ, something of a controversy blew up over delays in treating children with mental health problems. Minister of State Tim O'Malley put some of the blame on consultants, some of whom, he said, feel "kind of powerful" when they have hundreds of patients on their waiting list. On Tuesday, in the face of fierce criticism, Mr O'Malley said he had no proof that any consultant was deliberately creating long waiting lists but, he argued, questions had to be asked when in some parts of the country a prospective patient can be seen within two months while in others the wait could be as long as four years. He asked the Health Service Executive for an analysis of the waiting lists. On both Tuesday and Wednesday the Dáil focused on Mr O'Malley's initial remarks although he eventually withdrew them. The Opposition's preferred method of attack was to ask the Taoiseach where he stood on the issue.
• The Health Service Executive said that there is no evidence that contaminated heroin had caused the deaths of six drug addicts in Dublin over a recent ten-day period. A spokesperson added, however, that the tests had not yet been completed and a conclusive judgement could not therefore be made. The six victims, all of whom lived in Dublin, were between the ages of 26 and 40.
• Despite being told by all the experts that Monaghan General Hospital does not have a sufficiently large catchment area to maintain the skills of consultants and other medical staff, the people of the town continue to demand the retention of acute inpatient services at the hospital. Local TD Peadar McMahon, representing Monaghan Hospital Community Alliance, led hundreds of people from the county in a protest outside the Dáil on Tuesday. The next phase in the campaign will involve organising a cavalcade to disrupt traffic on the Dublin-Monaghan road, some time after Christmas.
• Plans by Minister for Health Mary Harney to develop private hospitals on the grounds of existing public hospitals are facing an obstacle since no developer has come forward to construct the proposed hospitals in Galway and Letterkenny. However it is understood that plans for a further eight hospital sites will go ahead. Why the Department of Health even considered another private hospital in Galway is something of a mystery, as the recently opened Galway Clinic and upgraded Bon Secours hospital are already available.