It’s two months since Waterford farmer Thomas Power died following a heart attack while on his way to University Hospital Cork. For his family, these past two months have been filled with grief and a single question. Would Thomas still be alive if University Hospital Waterford (UHW) had a round-the-clock cath lab service?

While nobody can answer that question with certainty, his family are convinced that, at the very least, Thomas would have had a much better chance of survival.

“He needed to be in a hospital within 90 minutes. He got to WHU but it was a Sunday and the cath lab is closed all weekend. There was no option but to head for Cork and time ran out for him,” says his mother Eileen.

“Thomas was a dry stock farmer and he was thinking of getting into dairying. He was a hard worker. It’s terrible to think that the cath lab is locked up every weekend and he couldn’t get the help he needed. Sure it’s no use to the people if it’s left like that,” she adds.

And Eileen couldn’t have said a truer word. This essential service is only available from 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday, leaving people who live in the southeast without a service for 128 of the 168 hours in a week. The area includes Waterford, south Wexford, south Tipperary, south Carlow and south Kilkenny and has an estimated population of 500,000 people.

“What’s needed is equity of access and that doesn’t exist in the southeast,” says Catherine Power, who is a sister of Thomas.

I am Tom and 24/7 campaigns

Since his untimely death, Catherine and the family, including dad Michael, sister Joan and wife Bernadette, along with Hilary O’Neill of the South East Patient Advocacy Group and many others, have been doing their best to highlight this glaring medical service gap in the region.

“People have been wonderful. We have 15,000 online petitions and as many again in print. We have great support for the ‘I am Tom’ posters. They feature a broken heart and their impact helps to create awareness,” says Catherine.

A thousand of these posters were distributed at the Cork-Waterford hurling match and they hope to do the same again at the All-Ireland final.

“The GAA, especially the Waterford senior hurlers and their manager Derek McGrath, support the 24/7 campaign. And it was thanks to Waterford Credit Union and O’Connell Car Sales that we funded the posters.”

Thomas was an active member of Macra na Feirme and the family hope to get Macra involved in the campaign. They would also love to see a defibrillator in every co-op branch.

Meetings with ministers

On the political front, all 37 Fine Gael councillors representing the southeast signed a letter looking for a meeting with Minister For Health Simon Harris. Four of them met Minister Harris to discuss the downgrading of services at UHW and the 24/7 campaign.

A statement afterwards said the case for a second cath lab should be reinforced by the provision of a mobile lab. The statement went on to say it was important that all hospitals in the region support this service and utilise the additional resource (mobile unit) that is being put into UHW.

However, while the Power family welcome the mobile unit and agree it will help reduce waiting lists for non-emergency cases, they say it will do nothing to fill the 128 hours per week when no service of any sort is in operation.

“What’s needed is 24/7 implementation immediately, we cannot have any more needless loss of life,” says Catherine.

The next meeting with Minister Harris is set for this month and Catherine Power hopes to attend it.

“Cllr John Cummins, the deputy mayor, has written to Simon Harris requesting that I attend and that request is supported by all 36 Fine Gael councillors in the region.”

From that meeting, the Power family would like agreement on the review of the cath lab facility in the southeast. They want the terms of reference agreed and the name of the person charged with carrying out the review.

“In our hearts we know that Thomas should be alive. We will not rest until we get the truth and a second cath lab for this region.” CL