Patients will rightly question why Barringtons’ was able to treat patients if its facilities were not up to scratch; why there seems to have been a time lag between concerns raised and the department’s move to suspend services at the hospital; and what the episode says about cancer treatment in this country as a whole and/or other detection and treatment services in other facilities across the State.

The development will also have a knock-on effect for other patients, doctors, the Department of Health, the Health Services Executive and support groups across the country, and possibly other detection and treatment services. If this situation was able to develop and persist in one area of the health service, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that it could happen or be happening elsewhere.

This is the worst possible outcome. A vital aspect of delivering patient care is that patients have faith in the quality of service that they are receiving. It must also be deeply unsettling for those providing quality services throughout the country that their services will now be called into question because of this development.

The public’s faith in health services in this country is at an all time low. The Department of Health and the HSE must now work quickly to restore public confidence.

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