City Mayor Cllr Padraig Conneely - who claims he was “ordered out” of University Hospital Galway A&E department recently and who walked out of the HSE’s regional health forum west meeting this week “in protest” over comments made by a senior health official - has vowed to continue being the “voice of the voiceless”.
The outspoken Fine Gael city councillor hit the headlines on Tuesday after he asked HSE officials to confirm if temporary ward and theatre closures were planned. He outlined that Merlin Park and University hospitals were running over budget by €1 million a month and stand to be €12m in the red by the end of the year.
He said cutbacks were not coming where they should come from - “the top echelons” of the HSE and the Department [of Health]. They should not be made at ground level.
“There are 10 executives at the top table, there is €1 million a year at the top table [in terms of] executives.”
Mayor Conneely who described UHG’s emergency department as a “hellhole” and “chamber of horrors” in the past said he was told three weeks ago by hospital management “not to go in” there. He said he was “ordered out” but vowed to continue visiting the facility in his role as public representative.
“I’ll go in whether he likes it or not. I’ll go in.”
He told the forum meeting public confidence was eroded in the health service but stressed he wanted to exclude nurses, doctors and hospital staff from this. It was the “system” he was talking about, he said.
Dr Sean Conroy, the director of the HSE West’s regional health office, said public confidence in the health services is affected by the way in which the HSE delivers services and by how public representatives portray these services in the media. He said he found it a source of “continued aching sadness” that public confidence could be reduced to zero by headlines.
“Are you referring to me?” demanded an irate Mayor Conneely. “Yes”, replied Dr Conroy.
The mayor took exception to this and said he was leaving the meeting in protest.
Forum chairperson Cllr Tomas Mannion stated “quite a number” of people had contacted him after a previous meeting in which UHG was referred to a “hellhole”. He said he disassociated himself with remarks made in a negative manner.
“We have to be responsible in the comments we make.”
Afterwards, Cllr Conneely told this newspaper that he had no regrets about walking out of the meeting and refused to be “dictated to by senior highly paid executives of the HSE”.
“I took exception to being criticised for speaking out on issues relating to UHG’s A&E. I am an elected public representative, I speak on behalf of people. I get regular calls to go to A&E from people who are waiting for hours and days for beds. I saw a 20-year-old girl sitting on the floor there with a drip in her arm. She hadn’t a trolley or a chair, she was sitting on her coat on the floor in a distressed state. When I see that I’m entitled to speak out. I won’t take directions from any highly paid executive of the HSE. I’ll continue to speak out. I won’t be silenced on health issues. People are not being treated well in A&E. I’m not aportioning blame, it’s the system, it’s the HSE and the Department of Health, not the nurses, doctors or staff.”
He said he will continue to speak out on behalf of the people who contact him.
“I visit A&E once or twice a week. “One night I got a call late at night, at 11pm, when there were 30 people there. I spent hours with people, the old and distressed. If I am a thorn in the side of the health service it’s because I put people first. I’m the people’s public representative. I’m speaking on behalf of an 83-year-old woman lying on a trolley at midnight in A&E. She was there for 30 hours without food (there is no food supplied in A&E at night ). Someone had to go to Supermac’s to get her tea in a plastic container. I’ll speak up on her behalf and on behalf of the old and frightened. I won’t be silenced.”
