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Fifteen hospital units have been initially selected to carry out Colonoscopy Services, as part of the national bowel cancer screening programme, which is due to start in 2012.
The fifteen hospitals have been chosen following assessment by the NCSS and outside experts for suitability as screening centres: Cavan, Blanchardstown, Tralee, Letterkenny, Dundalk, Castlebar, Mercy Cork, Tullamore, Ennis, Sligo, Clonmel, St James’s, St Vincent’s Dublin, Tallaght and Wexford.
Spot The Deliberate Error
Now spot the deliberate error, to observe, at first hand, the power of our political representatives in North Tipperary. Yes you have guessed correctly, despite current election propaganda, being pushed through letterboxes promising improvements in access to health care services in North Tipperary, by our outgoing government, the secret deals done with Fianna Fail for our benifit and constant political promises, our Nenagh Hospital has again been left off the final list again. This action demonstrates further, the real future and plans, which will eventually remove all health care facilities out of North Tipperary.
 Remember the Nenagh Hospital Protests This wanton destruction of our county health care services must now be reflected in how we vote in the forthcoming General Election. While our elected representatives can afford and will be flown by helicopter to the private Blackrock Clinic, those of us who are now cast and classed as the plebes of this green land, must make our journey along a potholed road, to a trolley cluttered hospital passage way.
The Nenagh Hospital Action Group have expressed their utter dismay that the North Tipperary facility was omitted from the National Colonoscopy Screening programme, despite political promises that the Nenagh facility would be used as a centre for screening.
Around 930 people die from bowel cancer each year and there are around 2,200 cases diagnosed each year.
Cancer of the colon is one of the most common cancers in Ireland. It occurs in the bowel, which is also known as the intestine and includes the colon and the rectum, which is the lower six inches of the tract. In colorectal cancer, 70% of malignancies occur in the colon or large intestine and 30% appear in the rectum.
To reduce the risk of colon cancer, it is best to follow a diet that is low in fat and high in fruits, vegetables and fibre. It is also advisable to exercise regularly.
 Nenagh Hospital to be further downgraded The already downgraded Nenagh General Hospital here in North Tipperary could lose its intensive care unit as early as next month, the Nenagh Hospital Action Group now claims.
At the end of 2009, the Health Service Executive (HSE) confirmed plans to close the ICUs at Nenagh and Ennis hospitals, stating the units would be centralised at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, as part of their reconfiguration of health services in the mid-west.
The HSE would not confirm a time frame when contacted, but action group secretary M/s Noreen Kennedy said staff at the hospital have been informed that the ICU will definitely close in March or possibly as early as February.
There are currently five intensive and coronary care beds at Nenagh hospital and six at Ennis.
Last November, construction began on a critical care unit at Dooradoyle, that will contain a 12-bed ICU, a 14-bed high-dependency unit and a 16-bed coronary care unit, among other features. The HSE expects the development to be completed by the end of this year.
M/s Kennedy said the action group is concerned about what system will be put in place after Nenagh loses its ICUand expressed concerns that Nenagh will also lose its emergency department.
The group called on opposition party candidates contesting the General Election to publicise their proposals for the future of north Tipperary’s health services and intend to lobby and question strongly all prospective candidates in the coming days.
North Tipperary supporters of Nenagh Hospital, claim that it would appear that a Gaming Casino has taken precedence over any Health Service protection for North Tipperary residents and all outgoing candidates seeking re-election, who made promises, must now pay the political price for failure.
 Mary Harney - The unnecessary victim of paint and eggs Health Minister Mary Harney has offered her resignation on Tuesday last, to the Taoiseach Brian Cowen. The former Progressive Democrats leader also confirmed she will not be contesting the next general election.
Minister Harney stated “I have reached my decision after considerable reflection and having taken into account the advice and constant support offered over many years by my family, friends and colleagues and accordingly I have offered my resignation as Minister for Health and Children.”
Currently a TD for Dublin Mid West, Ms Harney had served as minister of state for the Department of the Environment from 1989 to 1992 and Minister for Enterprise from 1997 to 2004, before becoming Minister for Health since 2004, to current date.
Ms Harney visited Tipperary and Thurles officially on many occasions. As Minister of State for the Department of the Environment, she was a guest of Thurles Tidy Towns Committee and officially switched on the then new fountain in the river Suir, sponsored to Thurles by Cantwell Electric Engineers, and currently still enjoyed at Cathedral Street in the town. One achievement often cited from her role in Environmental Protection was the banning of bituminous coal in Dublin in 1990.
It was at a Progressive Democrats meeting the Anner Hotel, Thurles, Co Tipperary that news of her engagement to Brian Geoghegan of An Foras Áiseanna Saothair (FÁS), was made public, first revealed by local Thurles photographer George Willoughby.
Ms Harney, a native of Ballinasloe, Co Galway, was first elected to the Dáil in 1981. She became the youngest ever member of the Seanad Éireann, when nominated by the Late then Taoiseach Jack Mary Lynch in 1977. She became a founder member of the Progressive Democrats together with Limerick born Desmond Joseph O’Malley in 1985 and became leader of the party in 1993. As leader of the PDs, she was Tánaiste from June 1997 to September 2006. She then stepped down as PD leader at that time and was replaced by Mr Michael McDowell, however following his defeat in the 2007 general election, Ms Harney stepped back in as acting party leader.
It was possibly on her last visit to Tipperary in November 2010, that a group of about 30 people protesting, threw eggs and cheese at Mary Harney’s car as she arrived at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Nenagh, Co Tipperary. The minister was then officially at the Tipperary hospital to open a new Endoscopy Unit and speaking afterwards, the Minister said she was not upset, that she has had other things thrown at her that were probably worse, adding, ‘I think it’s a great pity that in a democracy people don’t use the opportunity to put their perspective forward in a different way. Politics is about choices, it’s about argument and debate. It’s not about engaging in public disorder offences or engaging in activity of that kind. I understand that many of those involved are politically motivated by a different persuasion than the mainstream parties in this country and maybe that’s part of the motivation.‘
The week previous to this, the Minister had been targeted with red paint, as she turned the sod at a mental health centre in Dublin.
It is expected that changes to the cabinet, including the vacancy created by rebel Foreign Affairs Minister, Micheál Martin, will be announced by the Taoiseach Brian Cowen in the next few days.
 Details of a new €10.5 million construction development at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Dooradoyle, Co. Limerick, latter which serves to deal with North Tipperary patients and which aims to fill significant gaps in the provision of specialist services including cystic fibrosis, neurology, stroke, dermatology and symptomatic breast disease, has just been unveiled.
The purpose built six-storey building on the hospital’s Dooradoyle campus in Limerick, will include a new neurological unit which will serve 5,000 patients, catering for 11 conditions including Epilepsy, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis and Motor Neurone disease.
The Cystic Fibrosis Outpatients Unit will have five treatment rooms and an inpatient unit with nine en suite rooms.
The new Dermatology Outpatient Centre aims to bring all dermatology services together at one location. Available figures show that 6,280 dermatology patients were seen at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in 2010.
The Mid-Western Hospitals Development Trust, which is supported by the JP McManus Invitational Pro-Am, is providing €4m toward the proposed construction costs.
Planning permission for the new development has already been granted and construction is due to begin in June 2011, with the project expected to be operational by the 1st of January 2013.
 Solid confirmation has been received from the Health Service Executive that approval has been granted for the construction of Thurles’s new Ambulance Base on the grounds of the Hospital of the Assumption, with the project to progress to the procurement and tendering phase. Local Fine Gael TD Deputy Noel Coonan who confirmed the news, was also informed that construction work has been included in the HSE Capital Plan for 2011.
Deputy Coonan commented: “I have made numerous representations to the Health Minister pushing for the advancement of this project and last Monday I received a letter of confirmation from the National Ambulance Service assuring me that the long-awaited facility is to proceed and construction work has been included in the HSE Capital Plan 2011.
Approval was given in December 2010 for construction to commence and this is very welcome news, albeit at a late stage. The new ambulance base should have been provided long ago and we’re still at a loss as to why it wasn’t constructed when the Hospital of the Assumption was built. Since then, however the provision of the base has been a priority.
I’m hopeful that now the new amenity will proceed without any further hiccups. The ambulance crew working in Thurles are entitled to top class facilities; especially with the pressure they are under and the vital service they provide.”
The confirmation letter, addressed to Deputy Coonan from the Administrator at the HSE’s National Ambulance Service section, also said that overall it is expected that the procurement, tendering and construction will take approximately 13 months to fully complete.
The project will incorporates an ambulance base, covered ambulance parking bay, staff car park and dedicated entrance/exit adjacent to the Hospital of the Assumption.
The Fine Gael CAP Spokesperson concluded by saying that he will continue to lobby Health Minister Mary Harney on the behalf of North Tipperary residents to ensure the project comes to fruition as soon as possible.
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