‘People’s lives are being put in danger’
Reader’s Open Letter to Dr. Oliver Whyte,
Clinical Director of Westdoc
As Clinical Director of Westdoc, I wish to inform you of my frightening experience with Westdoc services in Roscommon on June 18th last.
I rang the Westdoc services in Roscommon town at 3 am due to breathing difficulties. A triage nurse answered the phone. I explained to her that I needed to see a doctor and that I needed a nebuliser. She said she would speak to the doctor on call and ring me back. She rang me back to say that the doctor did not have a nebuliser and that I was to go to my nearest Accident & Emergency Unit.
I was shocked and in deep distress at hearing this. I could not believe a doctor would effectively refuse to see a patient. You know, and every reader in Roscommon knows, that the nearest A&E Unit Roscommon town is Portiuncula Hospital, a 45-minute drive approximately.
This locum doctor gave reasons in a letter to Westdoc for not meeting me. It was not clear whether I was a known asthmatic patient. She was keen to send me to a hospital in order to exclude any cardiac cause for my shortness of breath. She did not know my background medical history. And I was an unregistered patient of Westdoc.
If the doctor was willing to see me or at least had the courtesy to phone me, I could have made my ‘medical history’ quite clear to her. She was keen to send me to a hospital without seeing me to write the necessary doctor’s letter for the hospital. If one is not registered with Westdoc, does this mean that a patient will not be seen?
I took it upon myself to drive to Portiuncula Hospital. I was not prepared to wait two hours for an ambulance to come to my family home. It took an ambulance two hours to get there three weeks previously, to attend to my sick mother.
Dr. Whyte, this doctor apologised for ‘any inconvenience caused’. An inconvenience? My life was at risk. I feel there was negligence here. What is the purpose of having Westdoc services in such instances? Why leave the responsibility to the triage nurse? If that is the case, why don’t patients just go to their nearest A&E and forget about contacting Westdoc?
When I rang the Medical Council, I was informed that the doctor in question had a registered address that is a 90-minute drive from Roscommon. Why are locum doctors being asked to cover from such a distance? People’s lives are being put in danger.
I now call on you, Dr. Whyte, as Clinical Director, to look into this matter as I would not wish for any other patient to go through such a distressing experience. I would also be interested to hear from readers who have had similar experiences with Westdoc.
Yours sincerely,
(Name and address with Editor)
‘An unforgiveable lack of communications’
Ballinderry
Roscommon
F42 RR04,
Dear Editor,
In the last edition (03/08/18) of the Roscommon People, the Editor commented about the current jobs status, with that extremely funny and accurate observation…‘the IDA, famously, visits Roscommon about as frequently as Arlene Foster does GAA games’. Brilliant!
But, when thinking about the Roscommon Town situation, I am reminded of The Bard – ‘The fault dear Brutus lies not in the stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings’.
To paraphrase Shakespeare, ‘The fault dear Roscommon lies not in the stars but in our location, the netherworld of Ireland’?
Roscommon has an unforgiveable lack of communications. We are some twenty miles from the nearest motorway, to which we are connected by a poor two-lane road, which is bisected by two rail level crossings, the N61 carrying much heavy truck traffic between Cork and Rosslare and on to the north-west, because in Ireland there aren’t any cross-country motorways such as Cork/Limerick to Derry, for instance? Additionally, as Roscommon has only half a bypass, much of that truck traffic thunders through the town centre.
We have a poor rail service, absolutely pathetic. So infrequent are the timings, why would anyone use it as a form of reliable transport? Is it possible to get from Roscommon to Galway and back, by train, easily in one day?
Ditto, bus service; infrequent, and shadows the rail route.
And finally, that most important lack of communication of all, high-speed broadband.
Lumping together all of the foregoing, especially the last-mentioned, what incentive is there for any right-thinking entrepreneur to set up a business here?
I would venture to suggest the situation is compounded by a lack of indigenous skills. Any ambitious and qualified young person will look around and set their career sights elsewhere, and who can blame them?
Despite the county boasting many sites worth visiting, we’re not on any tourist route, and what must visitors think when seeing that eyesore on Castle Street, the overgrown weed-strewn location that was once ‘The Royal Hotel’?
Every Irish government, of whichever hue, has failed the electorate miserably in the lack of investment in the infrastructure. Politicians promise always the sun, moon and stars, but the future, and how to obtain it, eludes them. Post offices are closing. Why are these not being replaced by mobile post offices, which were common decades ago in the rural UK, also, mobile banks? They were built on single-deck underfloor-engined bus chassis’ and provided much-needed facilities to those living in small villages. Politicians and their flawed grand vision? Think Hamlet –‘tis a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying…nothing.
Loathe to think pessimistically, but the paucity of a Dublin vision (in this context, an oxymoron?) condemns us to a lingering death…
It is said a country gets the politicians it deserves. Who have we upset to get lumbered with these over-paid indolent and ill-educated myopics? I’ll wager that if was posed to the lethargic of Leinster House the question ‘Roscommon Town?’, 98% would need to Google it.
Depressingly yours,
Michael Dryhurst
‘The last of the diehards’
Well-known Roscommon supporter Ray Gannon (Carrick-on-Shannon) sent us this perspective on following the Rossies against ‘the greatest team to ever play the game’ in Croke Park last Sunday…
The search for the Holy Grail goes on…
There we were up in the Hogan Stand on Sunday surrounded by Dubs – but we were happy. Happy to be there to cherish the occasion and play the best team in the land on the sacred green pasture that is Croke Park.
As Paddy Joe says, any day you see a Roscommon team take the field in Croke Park you get a lump in your throat.
We will forever be Rossies and will never let the side down through the good and the not so good days.
The team played their hearts out and we went down fighting to the bitter end. Any day you put up a score of 2-16 against what must be the greatest team to ever play the game, you’re doing well.
This Dublin team are as complete a package as we will ever see. They are awesome – the speed and strength in the tackle is surreal.
Our team deserves great credit for reaching the Super 8s. The management and backroom team have put in a huge effort, which cannot be taken for granted. They lived football 24/7 for the last six months. Everything else took second place.
It was a pleasure to be there to witness the occasion. Down pitchside was another of the diehards, our great photographer from Ballaghaderreen, Mick McCormack. Good job he had the long lens with him –you would nearly need Google Maps to pick out us Rossies in the crowd.
Joey and Paul were keeping us in touch with Galway in the hurling and Donegal in the football. Young Frankie was in touch with the hockey on his ipad.
A good showing from Mayo in the curtain-raiser, but Kildare were that bit more powerful on the day. It’s good for the game to see the likes of Kildare get an All-Ireland win. Pity a few Mayos didn’t hang on and give us some vocal support, but I suppose the battle of Ballaghaderreen is still unforgotten!
The man with the hat from North Roscommon was there. Councillor Kathleen from Roscommon was her usual happy self. I also met a young family from Knockcroghery on the way in, and Tommy was there from Kiltoom. Aisling was down on the pitch keeping our players in top condition. Her other half was sitting in front of us with his brother in-law. We were in good company and the good thing about us Rossies is that no matter where you are in the world and you wear the jersey or Jimmy Murray’s 1943/44 t-shirt you will be welcome.
Without doubt the best cheer of the day was for Bernard Brogan’s arrival on the pitch as a blood substitute. Good to see him back after injury.
It was great to see some Roscommon players coming up on to the stand to get photos taken with family members after the game. Sure that’s what young people want and the memories will live with them forever. It can only happen in the GAA – in no place else in the world would this be allowed.
Us diehards will prevail for as long as we are Rossies and remember, ‘the best is yet to come’. Keep the faith. Thanks for the memories.
Yours in sport,
Ray Gannon
