The Save Our Services executive in Donegal, which aims to safeguard the future of Lifford, Ramelton and Stranorlar hospitals, sent a delegation to meet with the various Health & Older spokesperson of each party in the Dail.
The aim of the delegation’s visit was to bring the campaign to a national level and to increase the pressure on the political parties to deliver on promises they had made prior to the last election.
A spokesman for the group said it was a very successful series of meetings and all Oireachtas members welcomed their position on how best to save the services.
He said there was a frank assessment and exchange of opinions and the SOS asked for, not just continued support, but for pressure to be put on the HSE to become accountable to the people.
“Our recent meeting with the HSE in October only served to highlight the fact that their plan is purely to privatise health care and to farm out all the services to the highest bidder. We won’t stand for this and will fight this all the way.
“Their disregard for positively engaging with us is clear in that they really don’t want us at the table and continue to stall on answering any questions or concerns we have. Continuing to receive virtually nothing in terms of answers or clarity as to what they are doing is frankly absurd. Our supporters and the people wishing to access these services deserve better, not to mention the future provision of all services.”
The group said they brought their case to the corridors of power in Dail Éireann and intend to do it again to follow up on these discussions to save existing services.
The group met with all key Oireachtas members and impressed the lack of any information from the HSE and also to give them all a 17 page summary document of the challenges they face and which outlines our stance.
“We were pleasantly surprised at the increased support we received and that all those we met are fully behind our campaign. Our aim and summary document was to not just update but inform the politicians and get them to apply appropriate pressure where necessary. We have succeeded in doing this and have all parties working on this for us. They all accepted our submission that the HSE plans are not the most prudent use of public funds and the millions should be invested in existing services.
“We met with Fianna Fail spokesperson on older people and then separately the leader of the party, Sinn Fein Health Spokesperson, Social Democrats Leader and the Minister of State for Older People Helen Mc Entee of Fine Gael. Our discussion focused on the current situation and how the HSE wants to “REPLACE” existing services and how we believe that the HSE have got this decision wrong.
“All agreed that the model of care we have in Donegal is “gold standard” and should not be got rid of for some speculators who are waiting to make serious profits from our people. We put our case across professionally and we said this is just the tip of the iceberg as we plan to increase the campaign not just behind closed doors but to mobilise the people on the streets again in the near future.”
The group said they received widespread support in the Dail.
“We got more than we hoped and we are assured that the parties are looking at our campaign and know we are not for turning. We have outlined our position and objection to the HSE proposed plan. A series of questions have been tabled and deputies and senators are all going to seek answers and explanations for the current stance of the HSE.
“This decision can be overturned and fought on many levels and we are fighting this everywhere we can. We know that politically the support for our campaign has increased and we have reminded them all that they must act on our behalf not just locally but at a national level as well.
“We are making inroads with this campaign and we are working daily to ensure that the HSE don’t get to hoodwink the people of these areas. We are not finished by a long shot and we are continuing to engage with key figures to overturn this decision.
“The campaign have agree a plan of action going forward and part of this is ensuring that political pressure is exerted from all angles, locally, regionally and nationally.
“This campaign is being watched closely by the rest of the county and rightly so. We know that the communities of Ramelton, Lifford and the Twin Towns are not alone and there may be other areas in the county which could fall victim to privatisation and replacing of community care and allied services as we know it and we encourage other areas to keep a watching brief over their hospitals,” added the spokesman.
The group said they would like to thank the Oireachtas members who facilitated meeting with and for them.
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