Grandad November 8th, 2007
To my regular readers - I apologise for hitting the same topic twice in succession.
I just want to say this bit and then hopefully go onto something more lively.
My Dearest Mary Harney,
I would like to tell you the story of two patients.
Patient A went into hospital for some tests a couple of weeks ago. The tests threw up some anomalies that concerned the doctor, so the doctor personally brought Patient A across for blood tests, a CT scan and an MRI scan. The doctor then waited for the results which thankfully were clear. Patient A went home after five hours.
Patient B has a spinal problem. Patient B collapsed and was brought by ambulance to hospital where they were promptly discharged with a prescription for Valium. Patient B collapsed again a week later, in severe agony, and was brought straight to hospital. Patient B arrived at the hospital at 5.30pm and was placed in a wheelchair. At 2.30am [yes - nine hours later], patient B was x-rayed. The doctors refused to give out the results of the x-ray as there was confusion as to whether Patient B was Emergency or Elective, and they wouldn’t give results because of protocols. Still in severe pain and barely able to move, Patient B leaves the hospital in total frustration at 8am, having received no treatment whatsoever.
Patient A was on VHI Plan D and went to the Beacon Clinic.
Patient B was on VHI Plan B and went to Tallaght Hospital were they were treated as a public patient.
Mary, my love.. You promise a bright future for the Health Service. You talk about great things. You talk about the massive increases in budgets for the Health System. The HSE is to solve all the problems.
Mary, my dear.. You have been in the job for three years. Nothing has been done. The system is in melt down. People are literally dying because they are relying on you. You have failed, and you have failed miserably.
Mary, my petal.. If you were an employee, you would have been sacked years ago for gross incompetence, wasting company resources, and generally being a waste of space.
I am a peaceful bloke. I have never wished harm on anyone before. But……..
I sincerely hope that you come down with a dose of cancer or syphilis or something nasty, and that through a mix-up, you get treated as an ordinary person off the street. I hope you have to wait for hours to be treated, while in agony. I hope you are misdiagnosed and sent home. I hope you have to plead for treatment, and get stuck with the drunks and the drug addicts while you are ignored. I hope the pain is severe.
Maybe then, you will realise how miserably you have failed.
Maybe then you will have the decency and humanity to resign and fuck off into obscurity.
Lots of love,
Grandad
