A MEDICAL centre in Killarney has secured planning retention but strict conditions have been imposed by An Bord Pleanála. A group of GPs are already operating out of a commercial /office block in the town. Along with developers of the…
Novus Medica
Medical news service from Penhire
Monthly Archives: October 2011
Ireland tops foreign-born medics list
New figures revealed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) show 47% of all types of nurses and 35% of all grades of doctors working in Ireland have come from another jurisdiction. The details are compiled in the extensive 597-page Health…
Measles epidemic is being driven by a failure to vaccinate
So what has been happening in Ireland? “We have never had a year without measles,” says Dr Suzanne Cotter, a specialist in public health medicine with the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. The recommendation in Ireland is to receive one dose…
Life at the heart of a country practice
Dr Mary Rogan, the clinic’s proprietor, admits that she doesn’t get much time to enjoy it – such is the life of a rural GP. “I think we’ll soon be importing GPs from abroad, just like we are with junior…
Posted in General practice, Mary Rogan
Women’s unit of mental hospital ‘totally unsuitable’
THE WOMEN’S unit at the Central Mental Hospital, Dublin is “totally unsuitable” and “grim”, a report by the Mental Health Commission has found. Residents in the unit’s high-observation area had no living area and instead would sit in a “grim…
Waiting lists to be cleared by end of year, says department
Speaking following a briefing yesterday chief operations officer of the unit Tony O’Brien said that the Minister’s policy was very clear in that he wanted the special delivery unit and the health system “to do everything possible to ensure that…
GP fees for flu jab to be cut to €28.80
Fees to GPs for administering the flu vaccine will be cut from €42 to €28.50, Minister for Health Dr James Reilly has told the Dáil. He said he would sign regulations later this week to cut the fee. The move…
Drop in patients at GP service
PATIENT numbers at a GP out-of-hours service in the mid-west fell last year for the first time since the scheme was established in 2001. Shannondoc’s annual report showed the number of calls dropped by 4%. Shannondoc manager Larry Maher said…
Posted in General practice, HSE
Reduced service at Monaghan hospital
The minor injuries unit at Monaghan General Hospital is to close at evenings and weekends from November 1st, the Health Service Executive has announced. The executive said yesterday that the decision was made as part of “cost- containment measures” to…
Child arthritis service cut for doctor’s leave
Crumlin’s consultant paediatric rheumatologist, Dr Orla Killeen, is due to go on maternity leave and, although a locum post was advertised internationally, not a single candidate applied. A spokesperson for OLCHC confirmed this was the case. Dr Killeen is the…
Tagged with: Arthritis, Paediatrics, Rheumatology
Posted in Clodagh Lowry, Orla Killeen, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, System
Posted in Clodagh Lowry, Orla Killeen, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, System
Doctor guilty of botched care insists he did nothing wrong
Hungarian anaesthetist Dr Laszlo Ruscsak (45) — a former director of the privately owned Haven Cosmetic Surgery in Dublin — last night broke his silence over the controversy to claim he was innocent of any wrongdoing. He insisted he did not…
Medical Council ruling on misconduct overturned
An appeal against a finding of the Medical Council’s Fitness to Practise Committee that “Dr T” was guilty of professional misconduct was upheld by the High Court. The complaint was of an inappropriate internal examination in circumstances which did not warrant…
Frank McDonald on scale of proposed Children’s Hospital
Nobody considered that the objective of “co-locating” paediatric and adult hospitals might be achieved if the site occupied by Mountjoy Prison – directly across the North Circular Road from the Mater and due to be replaced – was developed for…
Surgeon cleared over circumcision
Dr Timothy Buckley, a surgeon at Mullingar General Hospital, allowed a registrar perform the operation in July 2009 on a boy aged seven, who developed paraphimosis and had to be readmitted later for corrective surgery. (Times) >
Reilly seeks to reform rostering for nurses
MINISTER FOR Health James Reilly has said he wants to see the introduction of more flexible rosters for nurses. It was “not realistic” for nurses to expect to work their full week over the course of three days of 12-hour…
Doctors suffering morale crisis
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has blamed a crisis in morale and poor manpower planning by the HSE for junior doctors travelling abroad to complete specialist training. Senator John Crown, a consultant oncologist, said there was something profoundly abnormal in…
Doctors: Costs have to cover other staff
Doctors are defending their prices this morning after one of the members of the Troika yesterday criticised the cost of GP services in Ireland. The EU, IMF and ECB told a press briefing in Dublin that some professions such as…
Ireland comes top in global doctor-patient survey
The latest Doctor-Patient Global Communication Performance Survey conducted by the WIN (Worldwide Independent Network of Market Research) Network, puts Ireland in the first place in terms of doctor-patient communication effectiveness. Ireland recorded a CAT-score (Communication Assessment Tool) of 66 compared…
Girl gets apology from obstetrician
A consultant obstetrician has apologised before the High Court to a six-year-old girl who has cerebral palsy and is wheelchair bound. It was claimed that Dr David Corr, who had a private practice at the Bon Secours Maternity Hospital, Cork,…
Consultants’ group warns of junior doctors shortage
THE SHORTAGE of junior doctors experienced last July may well be repeated in January and could be “much worse”, the Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association has warned. Speaking at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health yesterday, Dr Margo Wrigley, president of the…
Significant increase in organ donations
“Kidney transplantation in particular is heading for a record year with much help from the growing living kidney donor transplant programme,” Mark Murphy of the Irish Kidney Association said. “The ground lost in 2010 should be completely recovered by the…
Bupa seeks damages from State over VHI payment issue
HEALTH INSURANCE company Bupa, which withdrew from the Irish health insurance market several years ago, is seeking financial damages from the State. (Times) >
‘Quantum change’ on way for ambulance services
Under the new national triage system, all calls will be categorised in one live call centre to determine the appropriate gateway to healthcare for the patient. (Times) >
Outcomes will be better with new cancer treatment here
THE ESTABLISHMENT of specialist centres in Ireland to provide treatment for neuroendocrine tumours will result in better outcomes for patients suffering from this form of cancer, a world expert in the condition told a symposium in Cork at the weekend.…
CF facility in idle ward may go ahead
THE Department of Health is considering a U-turn on a decision to refuse €300,000 to a cystic fibrosis (CF) charity which has raised €2 million to transform a closed Cork University Hospital (CUH) ward into an isolation unit for CF…
HSE must re-hire sacked doctor and pay €100,000
Dr Molly Sengupta had worked as a paediatrician with the HSE in the north-west Dublin region. Dr Maeve Diver, who was Dr Sengupta’s line manager, said they were continually understaffed in the area of community and child care. Dr Evan…
Private firm to run hospitals
The public hospitals in the west, including University College Hospital in Galway and Limerick Regional Hospital, both of which are beset by long waiting lists and overcrowding, are to be effectively taken over for more than a year by outside management…
HSE tells patients to ask for refunds from pharmacies
Unicare managing director Cormac Tobin said it was not “overcharging” patients for drugs as the HSE was not allowed fix prices for drugs under €120 a month. “We do sometimes refund customers because we want to keep them happy and…
Survey confirms nurses’ fears over lengthy hospital wait times
ONE-in-five patients have to wait between 12 and 24 hours to be admitted through the A&E at the Mid-West Regional Hospital in Limerick. The new Healthstat findings verify nurses’ concerns about the service. It also emerged 1.5% of patients had…
