Published: Wednesday, 28th October, 2009 6:00pm

'Straight answers, or I go' - Burke on HSE forum

A Westmeath county councillor has threatened to resign from the HSE's Dublin/Mid-Leinster Regional Health Forum - just a matter of months after joining the consultative body.

Fine Gael's Cllr. Peter Burke told the Westmeath Examiner that he is "fed up of serving on a committee without teeth", while receiving "spin-doctored answers" to crucial questions about healthcare in Westmeath.

"I had my reservations when I first joined the forum, but I had no idea that it was going to be this bad," said a deflated Cllr. Burke, who will wait for replies to his motions at the body's November meeting before making his decision.

"Why we would give up four or five hours of a busy day to go down to listen to a talking shop - at the expense of the taxpayer - is beyond me."

The Clonmore man said that it is his belief that a "large proportion" of councillors sitting on the forum are frustrated with it.

"It's a very cumbersome route to take to the Minister's office, and in a way it's like the National Roads Authority, who we've been trying to get a meeting with for months," he said.

"It's just another example of Ministers walking away from responsibility for their own departments."

Cllr. Burke said that he is frustrated that he has not yet got a satisfactory answer as to why Naas General Hospital still bests the Midland Regional Hospital at Mullingar for funding, even though Naas takes in ten thousand less patients per year through its doors.

What's more, he is fuming at what he describes as vague and "robotic" answers being offered by the Executive at forum meetings.

Furthermore, citing figures about agency nursing spending obtained during his general election campaign in 2007, Cllr. Burke said that at a recent meeting of the Dublin/Mid-Leinster forum, he received completely different figures for monies spent on agency nursing in 2001 and 2005.

He also said that he had received an "unsatisfactory answer" to a query seeking a breakdown of the HSE's sundry expenses.

But the final straw came when the Fine Gael man and his colleagues only heard about the proposal to close sixteen beds at Mullingar Hospital, because the Executive were quizzed about it under "any other business".

"It's about nothing but spin," Cllr. Burke continued. "It reminds me of the committee appointed to advise [HSE CEO] Professor Brendan Drumm about 'value for money'.

"Each of them were getting €1,450 per day for a 136 day contract.

"I'm considering my position. If I don't get a full and proper explanation to some of the answers I received at the last meeting, then I will resign."