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Where do you pay €1,000 a night for lumpy Weetabix and white toast? An Irish hospital

Aine Bonner describes how she lived on Tesco meals while caring for her one-year-old daughter in CUH.

SO I’M SETTLING back home after a two-week stint away that cost €1,000 per night. Fancy shmancy… Or not.

This €1,000 per night room charge didn’t include my breakfast and I had to sleep in a chair for the first five nights, and then on a postage stamp-sized mattress on the floor.

The shower didn’t have any toiletries and I had to provide my own towels.

Tessa, my one-year-old, was with me. She was treated to lumpy Weetabix or Readybrek for breakfast, along with a couple of slices of white toast.

Lunch was usually pureed vegetables of varying shades of yellow and orange – I never quite figured out what they were – along with gravy infused mince and mashed potatoes. Every day. For two weeks.

In the evenings, we could chase someone down for a bit of reheated scrambled egg and we once managed to score some fish fingers.

So for €1,000 per night you’d think I’d be screaming for a refund, yes? What kind of accommodation provider could bill €14,000 and provide such basic facilities? An Irish hospital, that’s who.

‘The least that should be on offer is proper nourishment’

Don’t get me wrong. Not for one second am I complaining about the excellent healthcare that my baby received during her stint in Cork University Hospital.

The staff there were excellent. Professional, warm, attentive – everything I could want when trusting people with the wellbeing of my child.

They always went that extra mile with her and always tried to make her smile. But €14,000 for the room – before the consultant’s fees, ultrasounds, bloods, surgery and whatever else will be totted up?

To me, it’s crazy. I know it’s the insurance company that will be stumping up the cost, and if we had been public patients we’d have been limited to €75 per night for up to 10 nights. But that’s not the point.

If a hospital is benefiting to the tune of €14,000 from our stay, I think the least that should be on offer is proper nourishment for the patients and some basic facilities for parents.

After all, if I had decided to go home and leave Tessa alone overnight, they’d have to invest a lot more resources in her care. She was constantly trying to climb out of her cot, for example. And I spent most of my days doing laps around the ward with her.

At 16 months old, she can’t exactly take care of herself, and unlike some of the tiny babies in there who were not doing much more than eating and sleeping, despite her illness, she was looking for constant entertainment and interaction.

So my presence there was necessary, unless of course they wanted to dedicate a nurse or carer to her around the clock.

‘I survived on Tesco ready meals’

Another point was the lack of food for me. Tessa didn’t eat much at all during her stay.

I’m not sure if it was the illness, the high dose of anti biotics or the quality of food that put her off. I’d hazard a guess that it was a combination of all three.

All she wanted to do was drink milk. I breastfeed her so she pretty much reverted back to being a newborn – feeding around the clock, clinging to me as her main source of nourishment and comfort.

I was delighted to be able to do it – I never once had to worry about dehydration or her going hungry and having her close to me meant I knew when she was spiking a temperature.

I was an instant source of comfort after yet another blood test or canula insertion. I certainly burned up a lot of energy though, and given that I wasn’t provided with any meals, I spent a lot of my time in there feeling hungry – especially in the first few days before I had managed to organise myself and buy some provisions.

We live an hour away from the hospital and my husband was at home with the other kids, so I didn’t have anyone else to mind Tessa while I went off for something to eat.

There is a lovely parents’ room on the ward – it has tea and coffee, a water cooler and a fridge, along with a comfy couch. The trouble is, I wasn’t allowed to bring Tessa in there, and I wasn’t allowed to bring cups of tea into the room we were staying in.

So it wasn’t exactly practical in that sense. And given that I was my daughter’s main source of nourishment during our stay, a sandwich here and there, or even one of the god-awful hospital dinners, would have been really appreciated.

I survived on Tesco ready meals snaffled when Tessa went to sleep for the night, and chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

‘Our babies shouldn’t be deprived of fresh and nutritious food’

So as we settle back in home and relish in the luxury of things like fresh fruit and vegetables, fish that doesn’t come in a rubbery yellow coating, and bread that isn’t in the form of cold and soggy toast, I realise what a massive shakeup our hospitals need.

The nurses shouldn’t have to chase down kitchen staff to send up food for our babies who are in there recovering. Our babies shouldn’t be deprived of fresh and nutritious food while they’re at their weakest and most vulnerable.

I shudder to think what the catering bills for CUH are, given the lack of proper and nutritious grub. But the €14,000 that our insurance company will end up paying for our accommodation would buy a lot of grapes, strawberries, oranges, rice cakes, bread sticks and other healthy snacks, plus dinners that don’t consist of congealed gloop covered in salty gravy.

That €14,000 would be more than cover our rent for a year. Or if we were really splashing out, it’d provide 50 nights in the Grand Suite of the 5 star Castlemartyr Resort in Cork – including breakfast and 25 dinners. Now that’s some food for thought.

Aine Bonner is a freelance media professional, blogger and mum of three. 

Read: The furore around fatty, inedible hospital food overshadows a far more serious issue>

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114 Comments
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    Mute Tony Hartigan
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:13 AM

    My wife went in to a Cork hospital for a day procedure in @ 9.30 out @ 4.30 that’s a total of 7 hours cost of room €909 + consultants. How in the name of God can that charge not be immoral !

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    Mute Connachtabu
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:51 AM

    The Minister for Health should be invited to eat hospital food one day a week, just to keep himself abreast of hospital services.
    Hospital food might help him with his weight issues!

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    Mute Jho Harris
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:59 AM

    Nobody in their right mind would accept an invitation to eat hospital food for a day never mind a week. The caterers from the prison service should take over the hospitals kitchens.
    Some years ago I was in hospital for several days and made my views known about the disgraceful food I was expe ted to eat not a bother on them, they just took the plates of uneaten food away every time as if it was the norm.

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    Mute Susanne Morgan
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:11 AM

    Methinks you are thinking of a former Minister for Health, wouldn’t say that Leo Varadkar has a weight issue …

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    Mute Connachtabu
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:34 AM

    Nope, I meant Leo-the-Beautiful – he has spoken this past year about his weight!

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    Mute David HIggins
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    Aug 26th 2015, 2:20 PM

    Hospital Care is expensive. For comparison here is a price list from a US (children’s) hospital. Prices per day range from 3,500 dollars for a regular bed, to 9000 dollars a day for an ICU bed.
    If you were in that hospital, I’m sure you would get better food, I’m just not sure it would be worth the extra 1,200 euro per day.

    http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/price-information-list

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    Mute Colin Moran
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:06 AM

    Point very well made. There’s something seriously wrong with this system.

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    Mute offtheball
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:18 AM

    The system would collapse without being “subsidised” by the health insurers. It’s a cash cow for our hospitals. Of course it’s the insured who are being hammered through their premiums to prop up the inefficient way our hospitals are run.

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    Mute Reg
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:09 AM

    The irony is that without health insurance her child would have received the same care.

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    Mute McGuckin Annette
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:20 AM

    The rip off is maintained as long as people continue to use private health in public hospitals!

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    Mute Martina Junkers
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:27 AM

    Health insurers – you mean people paying the private insurance and having to go through all the hikes only to go to the consultant and be told that you still have to pay for the consultation and procedures before the insurer reimburses 50% to 75% – but not all of them.

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    Mute Rogue Nation
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:35 AM

    In private health insurance, one’s money is used to pay for someone else’s health, just like we pay taxes and part of that money is being used for public healthcare to people. So when we are paying to a private insurer and government for private and public health both, why not government comes up with a universal health coverage where a company can provide both for much less premiums as everyone has to pay it?

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    Mute Alien8
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:17 AM

    Reg made the best point here – she should not pay for the treatment using her health insurance; we have free healthcare for children with no distinction between private and public, yet parents include their children on schemes and then volunteer the insurance company to “pay”, increasing subscriptions while getting no benefit. Unless you want to get your child to get their yearly medical at the Blackrock clinic, examine your current cover.

    The less money going to insurance, the more money available for health.

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    Mute Lily
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:32 AM

    You do benefit in UHL we usually get a private room. It certainly does help to sleep in a private en suite room. Also qiucker access to consultants.

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    Mute Aine Bonner
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:58 AM

    No doubt about it. The care we received was fantastic. If we had gone public we would have had to pay the €750 though. This way, the insurance covers the cost. My baby is free on our policy as she was added at birth. I think we have to start paying for her when she turns 3.

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    Mute Aine Bonner
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:59 AM

    If I had not used my insurance, I would have had to pay the €750, which would have been a struggle.

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    Mute Amy Ni Dhaltuin
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:04 AM

    Thats the problem. So many people cannot afford health insurance, and then cannot afford to be sick.Its a disgrace that people who have always paid taxes to a country are treated in such a way.

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    Mute Dan Higgins
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:11 AM

    Irish hospitals are disgusting! The wife had kidney stones a few months ago, one was just under 6cm! The urologist told her that she was better off going home and dealing with it since it was a bank holiday weekend and nobody would see her until Tuesday! Everything was closing down at 4 apparently! She was told in a check up a few months later that both kidney stones should have been removed that day! Took her a week to pass them!

    I really feel for the lady paying €1,000 per night, but what are you supposed to do really? Nurses, junior doctors and support carers seem to really care, but if they’re not being backed up by a functional system and the right resources what can they do?! Seems like everybody loses until you get to the top of the ladder…

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    Mute sportsmad
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:28 AM

    It’s true what they say, don’t get sick on a Friday.

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    Mute Dan Higgins
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:34 AM

    Yeah, I gave out to her for it in fact! I said she should have waited til Tuesday at 1000 for the consultant to come in to have them!

    She then compared the pain to that of labour and squeezed a good size bruise into my hand!

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    Mute Martin Critten
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:00 AM

    Spent 3 weeks in Limerick with a nasty stomach condition they couldn’t identify, only to be placed on a post operative ward full of open wounds! Kitchens/Meals only operating till four, was having lunch by quarter past eleven in the morning, friends had to bring food in for the remainder of the day. Still beats me why they major in fry ups n stews, when far healthier eating plans and food education should the order of the day. Suppose they wouldn’t have customers into the future then. . . .

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    Mute Colly
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    Aug 26th 2015, 1:16 PM

    food in hospitals is usually high in calories because that’s what the body needs at that time.

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    Mute kevin kelly
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    Aug 26th 2015, 5:15 PM

    6mm surely? your kidney or bladder are barely 6cm.

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    Mute Dan Higgins
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    Aug 26th 2015, 6:23 PM

    Well us men do exaggerate size, so yes, you’re correct! Luckily for the wife you’re correct! :D

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    Mute Joe Browne
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:54 AM

    €14k is a lot of money for CUH proxy food. Bet you didn’t have a working TV or wifi either, it’s the CUH culture!
    Imagine giving the hospital €2,300,000.00 for a life saving inpatient respiratory ward for cystic fibrosis patients and others with chronic respiratory illnesses because the hospital refused point blank to apply for funding. Then prior to construction the hospital refuses to ring fence the CF beds. Then when the ward is built they tell you they don’t have the staff to operate the ward despite for 4 years they stated they had the staff. A life saving ward lying idle in CUH since last March because the monkeys in CUH management can’t manage.
    That’s what you get when store boys become managers. It’s the culture of CUH management, bad food et al.

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    Mute Stephanie O'Loughlin
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    Aug 26th 2015, 12:44 PM

    Joe, I’ve been following your story. Absolutely makes my blood boil. Unbelievable…yet sadly unsurprising.

    Regarding the hospital food:
    The level of medical care is very important but equally, varied, healthy and nutritious food is important for sick and recuperating children/adults also. Surely it cannot be that dear to come up with a more varied and healthier menu for some of the most vulnerable in our society?

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    Mute Margaret Russell
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    Aug 31st 2015, 10:01 AM

    Ireland is behind by 20 years,when it comes to menu planning in hospitals. No concept of nutrition in
    relationship to patients needs. The system needs total review. Not enough dietitians in Ireland. One menu fits all. No idea how to run a food service in hospitals here. Speaking from educated experience.

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    Mute mark raftery
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:57 AM

    When you see the comments here, you would swear this system was designed last week. As a nation we are reaping what our electoral trends sew for seventy years. All these things were happening during the boom just nobody gave a shit. When you live in a state where Michael Lowry can re-elected, and the innate corruption within FF was a huge inside joke what do you expect other the sub par public services. Civil war politics and having two centre right parties destroyed this country when people were voting for planning permission and personality politics rather then on national issues. Its just a huge shame it took the biggest economic crisis in the states history yo make people start caring.

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    Mute Baz
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:07 AM

    My mother recently spent 2 months in the Mater.

    The food was excellent, varied & healthy.

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    Mute I LOVE MY COUNTY
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:10 AM

    Is that the Mater private hospital?

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    Mute Alien8
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:21 AM

    is there a difference? same consultants/nurses/administration in both, just one side props up the massive insurance industry.

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    Mute I LOVE MY COUNTY
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:30 AM

    Yes there is a vast difference between public and private hospitals in terms of food and attention to detail around things like that.
    You are completely missing the point of the ladies article. She pays private health insurance but receives the same substandard meals as Public patients because the treatment is in a public hospital.
    That isn’t fair.
    I have spent two days in a private clinic and 4 in a public hospital. The difference in food, comfort, attention of care is simply incomparable.
    The quality of nurses, doctors, equipment etc is not what this discussion is about and nobody suggested there is a difference in quality on that matter.

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    Mute Mark Ryan
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:00 AM

    this woman was using the private services

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    Mute Sgt Pepper
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:21 AM

    I had a chat with my sister last night at her 50th. She’s been living in NY since she was 18 and was home for a week. She told me she’s paying $825 a MONTH for health insurance and that’s just for her alone. Her daughter is covered on her husband’s work policy but if she wasn’t…..

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    Mute Lily
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:26 AM

    Of course its fare. You think they should have a Michelin star chef dishing out food for private patients, perhaps steak and sea bass while public patients get fish fingers and egg salad? *I have private medical insurance but I dont expect to be treated differently in a public hospital. A private room is great if they have one, if you are staying with your kid but personally for myself I prefer a semi private room.

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    Mute John Donnelly
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:41 AM

    It’s like a hotel you go to a one star rated hotel you get that treatment no matter what you are paying. You go to a four star hotel you can guarantee that you will get top notch facilities the level of care remains the same throughout thanks to the excellent front line medical staff I.e doctors and nurses but they don’t upgrade the food or the quality of he rooms just because you are going in private which is wrong! I think it may be an issue across the board with public hospitals facilities should be upgraded but the money is not going into them! So it boils down to the government. Mary Harneys great HSE. We are still feeling the effects of it to this day sadly and the current government ain’t gonna do a thing about it either they are too busy trying to screw the country.

    All said and done no matter what a person is paying they should get better treatment than this lady and her daughter! The system is all corrupt. Health care should be the top priority in this country now instead of wasting time and billions on the corrupt Irish water shite. But that says it all we are already paying for water through indirect taxes just the same as we pay for healthcare through our taxes so where is all the money going??? Can’t blame Irish water and the bailouts for everything!! Lousy corrupt government after government! To the author thank you for writing this piece and j hope your voice is heard loud and clear!

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    Mute Missyb211
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:44 AM

    @I LOVE MY COUNTY ,” She pays private health insurance but receives the same substandard meals as Public patients because the treatment is in a public hospital.That isn’t fair.”

    Of course it is. What do you want? A first class section of a public hospital? A special section on the top floor away the the rest, where you have to show your special badge before you’re allowed enter????

    If private patients want so called better food go to the private hospital. FFS

    What you really want is a distinction between the classes. What else do you mean by “same substandard meals as Public patients “? PISS OFF with yourself!

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    Mute Lily
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:47 AM

    Any hotel has different rates from special offer to Rack Rate if you book b&b at 40pp for a double room on a special 4 months in advance you get the same as the person who booked a double room b&b 1 week in advance at 70pp at the same hotel you get same food and service.

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    Mute Elaine Shannon
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:05 AM

    the food is the same regardless. its all prepared by the same staff in the same kitchen

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    Mute Sgt Pepper
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:06 AM

    and $12,000 a year in property taxes!

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    Mute Aine Bonner
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    Aug 26th 2015, 12:25 PM

    I don’t expect to be treated differently to any other patient. At all. I think nutritious and edible food and proper facilities for parents should be standard for anyone in hospital. It’s not about me being a “private” patient. There were loads of great things about stay – the care we received being fantastic. It was also great that we had a room with a bathroom. But I stand over the points about the food etc. Not good enough. For anyone.

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    Mute Lily
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    Aug 26th 2015, 12:31 PM

    Now I agree the food isn’t great and regardless what you pay or don’t pay it should be edible, filling and healthy.

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    Mute McGuckin Annette
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    Aug 26th 2015, 3:05 PM

    Aine, did you lodge a formal complaint to CUH about your experiences?

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    Mute Danny McLaughlin
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    Aug 26th 2015, 3:46 PM

    I’ve spent quite a lot of time in hospitals for the past few years.
    Mostly in Tallaght, but also Letterkenny and Altnagalvin in Derry.

    Tallaght is great. You get a menu for the following days meals, which you tick off what you want.
    The meals are quite good.

    Letterkenny has a different system.
    There are different meals on the trolly to choose from.
    But if you are at the end of the ward, there can sometimes be little choice as a lot of the meals will be gone.

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    Mute Aine Bonner
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:28 PM

    Annette, not yet but I will write to them about my experiences. As I said, and I really want to emphasise this, the staff that we encountered there were brilliant. The nurses were so lovely. There were so many things that I would praise them for. But I really think something needs to be sorted out regarding the food etc.

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    Mute Grigori Rasputin
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:15 AM

    Wait, you’re complaining about the lack of quality, nutritious food in the hospital, so you ate Tesco ready meals and chocolate instead?

    There’s more nutrition in the packaging than that crap.

    If someone was going to the trouble of going to Tesco for you, why didn’t you get them to get you all the healthy stuff you list in the article that you say hospitals aren’t providing?

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    Mute Aine Bonner
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:51 AM

    The fridge was an under the counter job that had milk in it for making tea, room for a few bits belonging to parents. I obviously did buy fruit, nuts, crackers and things like that as well. But my dinners were microwave jobs or ready made salads etc. I wasn’t going to stand around making stuff from scratch in a kitchen used by others and that had plastic cutlery as the only utensils. The blog post is a snapshot of my time in hospital, not a food diary of everything I ate. Thanks for commenting everyone!

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    Mute Mark Ryan
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:16 AM

    I think the commenter is making a valid point, you include the Tesco meals in sub headline and continue in the article about same, which identifies it as one of your main issues of complaint, hence it will draw comments. You had the option of purchasing other food or asking your husband to bring in home cooked meals available to you also.

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    Mute John Donnelly
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:47 AM

    To be fair whether home cooked or ready meal once it goes in the microwave any nutrition is nuked out of it you might as well be eating cardboard. Chocolate would be a safer bet to keep energy levels up as caring for a sick child is a 24 hour round the clock job

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    Mute John Donnelly
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:52 AM

    Tesco is right across the road from CUH! I’m sure the lady was in a hurry to get there and back to tend to her daughter! And what if this had being a single mother with no husband to bring in food? I’m sorry but 1000 euro a night is far too expensive for the quality of facilities provided! I’m sure the likes of the Red Cross give better nourishment to the countries they tent! We don’t live in the third world!

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:12 AM

    I think most know that hospitals make hay when the see private insurance….it’s all a prearrganged deal with the insurance companies.
    Why did you not eat in the CUH canteen instead of going to Tesco….€5.50 gets you a very nice big meal and tea or coffee.

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    Mute Jon Stynes
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:33 AM

    I’ve worked on and off in CUH many times down through the years. The staff canteen food is very good and greatly subsidised. Maybe they should focus more on patients food than their own lunch and dinner.

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    Mute Ian Phillip Creaner
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:26 AM

    So well-written. It is a disgrace. We are a tiny nation. Why do we require such an administrative water head for our health system. True reform has never taken place. Just persecution of the weakest in the system and demoralisation of the coal-front workers. If the Social Democrats are aiming to introduce Nordic standards then that is where my vote is going.

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    Mute orla
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:22 AM

    Private Insurance keeps the hospitals going.

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    Mute Al Fonso
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:16 AM

    Private insurance keeps the hospitals raising their prices artificially to the point that we see today, without any actual improvement in care. Universal ‘free’ (in quotes because nothing is free) healthcare is the only way to make it cheap and good.

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    Mute kate masterson
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:55 AM

    I am currently in Australia where all breastfeeding mums are given full meals in hospitals to encourage them to stay with their baby and to keep breastfeeding.

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    Mute Alien8
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:18 AM

    not sure what point you are making, but the €1k per night subsidised the 3,000 employees of the hospital and the investment in equipment that keeps the 10s of thousands of children born there healthy. not really something that many places on trip advisor offer for the same price. while it does also subsidise the insurance industry/consultant public-private fiasco, there will generally be a charge for medical care, but it would be better if you could see a breakdown of where this €1k goes in the system.

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    Mute little jim
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:48 AM

    Let’s have a look at the breakdown of the twelve thousand million euros first. That’s the Hse budget for 2015, quite a bit of won’t isn’t it.

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    Mute Daniel Carry
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:41 AM

    Was once charged €280 for a 15 minute consultation with a Consultant. That’s €18 a minute…nice work if you can get it.

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    Mute Grigori Rasputin
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:43 AM

    You could get it, if you trained to be a consultant.

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    Mute Drew TheChinaman :)
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:56 AM

    You left the 2-3 decades of experience and training one must undertake and often pay for or at least contribute towards, in your ‘per min’ calculation.

    Not to mention the overheads required to run a clinic.

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    Mute Martina Junkers
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:52 AM

    It’s still way too much, considering all taxes and charges we pay. If I pay private insurance, I’d honestly expect to get the consultation for free or at least for a minimal payment. That’s not the case with consultants and it’s a shame.

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    Mute Reg
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:56 AM

    You can always use the public system and see them for free! Might have to wait though.

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    Mute Martina Junkers
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:01 AM

    Waiting is too long and that’s all grand if you don’t have a problem that may require a bit of a more urgent looking into. It’s also notoriously overcrowded and you have to reserve a whole day to actually be seen for all of 5 minutes, even if you were given a certain time (which is mostly just a weird joke).
    Still doesn’t solve the problem of having to pay for your private insurance and still paying for the consultants and some procedures yourself.

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    Mute David HIggins
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    Aug 26th 2015, 2:17 PM

    Martina, seeing as the consultants are not paid by the private insurers for consultations, who would you suggest pays them?

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    Mute Pat O Neill
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:20 AM

    Just one example of woeful inefficiency and fecklessness within the health system. How much are we paying, as taxpayers, for exorbitant costs incurred behind the scenes? I was in the Galway Clinic yesterday – a whole different world, a superb facility run properly by intelligent people who really care and at a fraction of the cost.

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    Mute David HIggins
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    Aug 26th 2015, 2:34 PM

    The Galway Clinic deals with completely different illnesses and social conditions than those presenting in public hospitals. It does elective knee replacements and gall bladder operations on reasonably healthy people. In contrast, public hospitals will do heart transplants, provide intensive care, look after people with strokes who need long periods of rehab.
    There is no “bed-blocking” in the Galway clinic, as the patients have the money to afford private nursing home and rehab care. The patients can afford to upgrade their houses, install stair lifts etc – whereas the social workers in public hospitals have to search for nursing home beds, chase after local authorities to provide facilities for people to return home.
    The two systems are not comparable, as they provide completely different services.

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    Mute Pat O Neill
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    Aug 26th 2015, 3:13 PM

    David, the context is the charge for the room and the food, the medical expenses are a separate (though i.m.h.o. similar) issue. € 1,000 B&B is not good value no matter who is paying for it, wealthy or not. All tax payers are paying for this inefficiency in any case.

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    Mute David HIggins
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    Aug 27th 2015, 1:57 PM

    Pat, it’s easy be efficient if you’re going elective knee replacements. Patient comes Monday night, operation Tuesday, bit of physio Wednesday and their family will come to bring them home to their nice house on Thursday.
    Compare this to – emergency admission with heart attack, emergency surgery, ICU, breathing machines, slow indeterminate recovery. Or – elderly person fell at home, unable to mange at home – admitted to hospital, lots of chronic medical problems without any solution, wait for a nursing home bed and funding.

    Again – the 2 situations are completely different.

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    Mute Michelle Flatley
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    May 27th 2016, 12:46 PM

    Your insurance company pays far more that that for your ‘B+B’ in the Galway Clinic than it does for the HSE furthermore at least the HSE is 24 hour care – I would not like to be a sick patient at night in a private institution

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    Mute tinamay
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:25 AM

    I spent 3 weeks in CUH last year after falling off my bike and suffering a brain injury (yes I was wearing a helmet).Ok the food was terrible but the service was amazing. I don’t have health insurance and was charged €750 for the 3 weeks and go back for regular check ups on my head and am not charged for this.

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    Mute Philo Brosnan
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:18 AM

    I’ve being in Vincents Private a lot & there porridge is fab & all there meals are very good

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    Mute Alien8
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:22 AM

    you pay thousands a year to the vhi for good porridge… why can the HSE not figure out how to get on that gravy train?

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    Mute John S
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:46 AM

    Because the HSE need to keep 10 Admin Mary’s in a job…..in spite of 1 Mary being needed and 10 being there……oh and the middle management, we need to keep all them in jobs too… .

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    Mute Tammy Ní Laoire
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:55 AM

    I broke my ankle quite badly 3 weeks ago. Brought to UCHG by ambulance, had x-rays, 2 general anesthetics, 2 surgical procedures, plates & screws inserted, copious amounts of much need painkillers, 3 nights in a ward, food was actually alright, surprisingly & quite healthy. All staff treated me with such care & compassion, from paramedics who first came to my rescue, to a&e, surgical & ward medical staff & orderlies. A&E staff in particular. It was crazy busy, trolleys everywhere, parked up wherever a nook or cranny space could be found, and it was only a Wednesday!Got a bill for €225 for my hospital stay. I gave up paying private health insurance 6yrs ago. Just couldn’t afford it anymore.

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    Mute Stephen Bernard
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:31 AM

    Devils advocate here – but aren’t you paying for medical care, and not specifically the “lumpy Weetabix and white toast”? Headline is dumb.

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    Mute Patlyndo
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:42 AM

    Stephen, the 14k wasn’t for medical care, it was for the room – the cost of the medical care is separate and on top of that.

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    Mute Geoff Newman
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:45 AM

    From my reading of the article, the €1000 a night was charged just for the room with more expenses charged for the care and other associated costs.

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    Mute Stephen Bernard
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:48 AM

    Then f*ck that!

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    Mute Grigori Rasputin
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:47 AM

    Did you know that hospitals charge the insurance companies vastly different rates based on whether a patient is getting public or semi private care. And the only difference between public and semi private is the number of patients in the room. So, if they can, they’ll move one patient out of a 6 bed room, and set up a desk for paperwork. This room now becomes “semi private” because it only has capacity for 5 patients, and they get to charge the insurance companies a premium, even though the patient care doesn’t change.

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    Mute McGuckin Annette
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:27 AM

    The charge for a public bed is €75 per night up to a max of €750 per annum. Now under the Health Amendment Act 2013, if a private patient occupies the exact same public bed which they are already entitled to as a public patient, they’ll charge the insurance company €800 per night!

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    Mute Aidan C.
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:14 AM

    This is why health insurers keep upping the premiums! Once you’re a private patient in a public hospital they will keep loading on the charges, knowing that your insurer will be the one footing the bill!

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    Mute Áine Downes
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:44 AM

    Human compassion is seriously lacking from our hospitals. For the five days I was in the Rotunda having our baby, including a traumatic c-section after two days of labour, I don’t think I had much more than a few bites of a sandwich smuggled in by my partner. Wasn’t even offered so much as a slice of toast after baby was born. Dinners were inedible and nobody seemed to notice or care that I hadn’t touched them. Irish hospital system is an expensive joke.

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    Mute Chris D
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:19 AM

    Weird, been there and encountered entirely the opposite? toast and tea always offered, when the lady came round at set times there was a good selection of foods offered and got herself a decent salad meal after asking if possible as it was a long day there missed the afternoon and evening meal? Were you private?

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    Mute Adrieanne McDermott
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:32 AM

    You can’t had toast after a c section, a vaginal birth yes, you will be offered this but you cannot eat straight away after a c section. I’ve had two and had to wait until the next morning after my first and at least a couple of hours after my second. Dinners were actually OK in the Rotunda.

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    Mute Áine Downes
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    Aug 26th 2015, 2:58 PM

    Nope fully public. It was completely over capacity though so maybe I just was unlucky and was there at a particularly busy time. But I have to say a stressful time was made all the worse by my treatment in that hospital. Get shudders every time I pass it. Didnt know that about the section though Adrienne, which is probably fair enough. Although they could have explained that.

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    Mute Chris Maynard
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:08 AM

    private hospitals aren’t always the answer. after a tonsillectomy at a certain lucan based private institution, i was given a strawberry yogurt (even though my chart clearly stated that i’m severely allergic to strawberries), a bowl of soup with a huge metal shard in the bottom of the bowl (presumably from the can), and some dry toast (because you can really swallow dry toast after throat surgery).

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    Mute Ros Caffrey
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:50 AM

    wonder if an FOI request to the HSE would enlighten us as to the catering contract/tender or would they claim it is commerically sensetive

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    Mute Trevor Weafer
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:00 AM

    The system is screwed. Absolute shambles.

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    Mute Ger Kelly
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:42 AM

    This lady and her baby would have been better off staying at home and being treated, the insurance company probably could have supplied a doctor & nurse on a daily basis for those two weeks at cheaper rates.

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    Mute Peter Carroll
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    Aug 26th 2015, 8:51 AM

    Students of English please NOTE,,,, Now that’s HOW YOU WRITE A COMPLAINING LETTER

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    Mute Crm Surveyor
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:26 AM

    A letter of complaint.

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    Mute Olga Fay
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    Aug 26th 2015, 12:03 PM

    A bit off topic but what a wonderful mother! Nothing like a mothers love to help kids feel better. So many mothers and fathers going through hell when their children aren’t well in heroic form. Hope your baby is doing well now.

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    Mute Tracey Russell
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    Aug 26th 2015, 12:52 PM

    while in wexford General hospital with my then 6 week old sick baby they provided meals for breastfeeding mamas, that’s hospital policy. I thought it was all over!!

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    Mute Anne Ryan
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:04 PM

    Wexford was fab for this, we were in their special care baby unit for 3 weeks. Every day I was offered meal as I was expressing. I too assumed it was like that everywhere until we moved to Holles St and crumlin where the dash for food began between feeds/naps etc.

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    Mute William lynn
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    Aug 26th 2015, 12:42 PM

    they made your daughter healthy again, and gave her good food. if there gave her no vegetables you would be complaining. there job is not to make you the queen comfortable. it’s to cure the sick, which they did. you lived on ready meals, big deal. I bet you eat ready meals at home too. go to a hospital in a 3rd world county and complain about the food.

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    Mute John Murphy
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    Aug 26th 2015, 9:08 AM

    I’d pay 1000 euro so I wouldn’t die of something that treatable. Although by the looks of it the food might do it.

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    Mute Kate Wrafter
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:10 AM

    I spent one night in the Bon secours in Galway and the cost for the bed was 3,500 I was in semi private and sharing the room with 2 other people. How can this charge be justified. I might add that the cost for medical attention was added to this. Peter

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    Mute Lily
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:21 AM

    Been there done that, dont forget extra charges for critical care and extra payment for sundays (off duty consultant has to be phoned in because its critical care) double whammy. But at least my child is alive :) When I was in CUH there was a child with CF she was there for 6 weeks, two weeks at home and 6 weeks back in again. she was under the age of 8 and the mother had three other kids to look after so couldn’t stay all the time. That really put me in my place for moaning about a 7 day stay. Another kid in the bed next to us (yep we had private health care but it doesn’t always get you a private room) was in for 3 months after being paralysed from a spinal infection, she gad no control over her body when dinner was served her bed was being stripped as she her body had emptied her bowels. We were heaving at the stench, my daughter couldn’t eat her food (something she had taken insulin for) so we had to to the cafe. The poor kid should have had her own room, she had a special machine to lift her but she had regained some slight movement in her arms and was expected to make a full recovery. Everyone has their own story but this girl should have had a room of her own. It was a mixed ward and a little lad of about 8 was there, he was black and just out of theatre he had his spleen removed after a car crash. He climbed on top of the girls lift and sang his heart out. A lovely little lad who one day will be a pop star He provided well needed entertainment. His mother wasn’t there as she was in a different hospital. As I said we all have our stories. The food is the same whether you pay 1k a night or don’t pay at all.

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    Mute Jorge Thompson
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:54 AM

    Spent 4 nights in Waterford hospital a year ago (to the week). Great service by all doctors and nurses. Food was certainly an acceptable standard.
    I go every 6 weeks to outpatients in Beaumount hospital, Dublin; again excellent service from all concerned, doctors, nurses, reception staff, food trolley ladies et al. Food also of an acceptable standard.
    I can’t complain about the HSE apart from the good quality of service I receive!

    As regards the €1,000 per night, does any hotel provide nursing staff 24/7? Food is often of a personal matter and certain people don’t like his and that.

    However, I must say that I was in hospital in South America and every morning I got a phone call from the kitchen with two or three choices for main course and dessert and what I wanted to drink. But then, I was in an isolation room for a bone marrow transplant.

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    Mute aisling ryan
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    Aug 26th 2015, 12:52 PM

    I just feel I have read my own story. Just out of St lukes in kilkenny with my 15 month. In there for 3 nights only but long enough. The care for my son was excellent but like you found facilities awful. I also pay for private health care but there was no private room available. When I asked for a pillow for myself I was told there was a shortage of pillows and not even enough for patients!! Also the food offered was similar to your circumstances. my 15 month was offered chicken wraps to chips sausage and beans :). also St lukes had lovely parents room but like that I couldn’t really use it as no kids allowed in. No toys etc for kids so ended up bringing in his own. towels also shortage. but has I said the care from doc and nurses in St lukes was excellent.

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    Mute Ciara Crowley
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:41 PM

    Firstly let me say that I’m happy that your one year old or 16 month old is feeling better after her stay in hospital. I’m also happy that you decided to stay in the hospital with her although I doubt that the nurses were given the night off just because you decided to stay. What did the staff at the hospital say when you complained about the food? I assume you did complain. Did you ask the staff if they could vary the food for your 1 yr old or if they could give her chunky vegetables instead of easy to eat purée ones! Did the catering staff come to you after you complained? And I’m shocked to find out that they didn’t feed you at all, what were they thinking!!! You should have brought in your husband and the rest of your family and demanded that ye all got fed. After all your insurers were being charged so much for the 24hr nursing care plus food, cleaning staff, security, lighting, heating, laundry etc.. Well at least you got something out of the two week stay in hospital, After all you were able to put together this rant and get paid for it .Maybe that’s why you didn’t complain.My friend works hard in the CUH catering dept and if you bothered to contact them during or even after your stay they would have answered all your questions and would have done their best to make your child’s stay as comfortable as possible. but then maybe this rant was more about you that your little one.

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    Mute Aine Bonner
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    Aug 28th 2015, 8:49 PM

    @Ciara, what makes you think I got paid for my “rant”? It was a blog post about my experiences. And yes I did talk to the staff about the food, and I did make a few different requests during my stay there. But as I said in my “rant” I don’t think it should be a nurse’s job to chase down kitchen staff for food when they are busy looking after sick children. We made the best of it in there, had a great relationship with the staff we encountered and thanked them for all they did for us. I’m still allowed an opinion about the food and what I think would be beneficial for parents though, no?

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    Mute Missyb211
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:46 AM

    “The basic benefit of having health insurance is that it helps you get non-urgent but important medical procedures done quickly, by going to a private hospital. This allows you to skip the queue for the public facilities.”

    “For many private health and medical costs, you are better off paying your own way and not bothering with insurance.”

    Source of good advice http://www.eire.com/2014/a-short-guide-to-buying-health-insurance-in-ireland/

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    Mute Hilary Farrell-Naik
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:22 PM

    I have been a patient in both Irish and Australian hospitals and I can tell you the food is very good in Australian hospitals. Good food is essential for getting you back on your feet. I’m very sad to hear things have not improved in Irish hospitals.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Aug 26th 2015, 1:26 PM

    Is it because the U.S. allows pharmaceutical companies to charge what they like for medication or is it that the HSE is top heavy with pencil pushers getting wages that are too high for the so called work they do?

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    Mute Paul Connolly
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    Aug 26th 2015, 11:12 AM

    sadly most of the fees go to consultants…must be hard keeping them in the lifestyles they’ve become accustomed to.

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    Mute NiallD
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    Aug 26th 2015, 10:31 PM

    Sadly most of the fees go to…politicians…must be hard keeping them in the lifestyle they have been accustomed to. See what I did there? Genius.

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    Mute ed w
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    Aug 26th 2015, 1:50 PM

    I didn’t think the food in letterKenny general was that bad when I was in last year.

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    Mute Danny McLaughlin
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    Aug 26th 2015, 3:34 PM

    I’ve been in Letterkenny quite a few times recently.
    I’m a very fussy eater, but I found it not too bad.

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    Mute See My Vest
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    Aug 26th 2015, 7:57 PM

    you’re paying for treatment not grub. great headline. where do you you pay €100 for substandard health care? An Irish restaurant

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    Mute Conall Foynes
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    Aug 26th 2015, 6:15 PM

    From what I’ve seen from hospital food it’s perfectly sufficient and caters for most people’s taste can’t expect a gourmet meal in hospital it’s sufficient and wholesome food.

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    Mute Margaret Lawson
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    Aug 27th 2015, 10:22 AM

    Was in cuh for tests with my child. Whilst the food was appalling, the care was second to none. We were in a two bedded romm with en suite and because my child was connected to a machine for 48 hours one of the nurses said they would leave us on our own unless there was a real emergency. Saw consultants and other tests done really good service

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