Brian Cowen was once Minister for Health. He likened it to Angola. Micheál Martin followed him. It dulled the sheen he had taken from his stint in Education. Now it’s Mary Harney’s portfolio. It’s still Angola.
As if the computer system overrun wasn’t bad enough, 2005 also revealed the scandal of illegal charges levied on persons whose medical cards and pensions were seized by the health authorities. The term used was ‘elderly care charges’ – up to 316,000 people may be entitled to refunds.
The Travers Report found ‘systemic corporate failure’ at the Department of Health – elderly people with medical cards were illegally charged for care in public nursing homes for nearly three decades by having deductions made from their pensions.
It is a fulfilment of a prophecy made some years ago that, after the scandal of child abuse, the next would be the scandal of abuse of the elderly. This is not to suggest that the health authorities themselves physically abused old people. But illegally taking their money is an abuse.
Also, RTE showed footage secretly filmed in a home for old people. It was very distressing.
October brought news of the tragic death of Pat Joe Walsh. He bled to death of a perforated ulcer in Monaghan General Hospital because surgeons at the hospital were not allowed, or were understood not to be allowed, to perform emergency surgery.
The point about Angola is that it’s a country that was riven by civil wars between up to half a dozen armies. Local, tribal and personal loyalties criss-crossed each other, and in the absence of any meaningful control from the centre, everyone was able to do more or less what they liked. In particular, everyone looked out for their own interests.
Yeah, sounds like our health system all right...