McHugh's Miscellany - Days of old NW Health Board recalled

I read with deep sadness about the recent death of Donal O'Shea, from Sligo and native of Cork.
In my early reporting days, Donal was the capable Chairman of the now defunct and much lamented North Western Health Board (NWHB), which had its headquarters in Manorhamilton.
The esteem in which his abilities were held saw him later head up the then Eastern Health Authority.
My sympathy is extended to his family and his many Donegal-based work colleagues and friends, who will be very sad, after his passing.
And I, like many others, would like to acknowledge his huge contribution to the development of health services in Donegal and the wider region.
Donal was one of the finest diplomats and communicators I have met and he was courteous and most generous in his time to a fledgling reporter.
He knew how important getting the message out to the general public was.
The Board itself had 27 members and covered the counties of Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim.
After the monthly meeting you got a generous mug of tea and sandwich courtesy of the canteen staff, who also operated from the adjoining Our Lady’s Hospital, before the drive back home.
In the many meetings I attended there, Donal was an oasis of calm, especially when the matters heated up among the political representatives on the board.
From Day one, he never wanted to be addressed by me or any of my colleagues as Mr O’Shea, it was always Donal and always coupled with a lilt to his voice.

The late Donal O'Shea 

I am sure that some of the decisions that he had to make were not easy, but he was never anything but fair to us reporters in our questions.
Bernard McGlinchey, Bernard McGuinness, Harry Blaney who have all since passed away and others from the region would be looking for their fair slice of the cake for Letterkenny Hospital while the likes of the late Willie Farrell from Grange, Eamonn Scanlon and Paul Conmy from south Sligo were battling hard for more services and consultants for Sligo Hospital.
The late Cllr Larry McGowan from Leitrim also jumps to mind with his quiet but clear and concise delivery when speaking.
You could often see the Donegal politicians travelling down in the same car together, regardless of party affiliation and when the Blaney’s were part of Independent Fianna Fáil.
The debates could manifest into a real ding dong fare and if one hospital got an extra consultant, it went without saying that the other regional hospital got the next slice of the health budget cake. A simple form of Quid pro quo.
I remember on one occasion there was a very heated debate about the banning of smoking in public places.
One of the politicians informed those present that his late father had lived into his nineties and had smoked since he was a child.
A quick response shot across the chamber posing the question of how much longer the gentleman would have survived had he not smoked?
While the exchanges were sometimes colourful, there was much greater transparency and reportage than when it later morphed into the bigger bureaucratic HSE.

The North Western Health Board Headquarters had just been upgraded before it was replaced by the HSE 

Donal was replaced on his departure by another fine gentleman from Donegal, Pat Harvey who took over as CEO of the NWHB.
Pat remained at the helm until the board’s last meeting in June of 2004.
The NWHB packed in a lot of improvements for the people of the region in its thirty-four years of existence.
Of course, you can’t mention the history of that particular board without the raging debate at its inception of where it should be located.
Ballyshannon was being primed as the HQ spot, but there was the backdrop that while Sligo and Letterkenny had regional hospitals, Leitrim had nothing.
In the end, Manorhamilton got the nod, but only after some Donegal politicians from north of the Gap voted for Manorhamilton, rather than Ballyshannon.