Novus Medica

Wind-up order for cosmetic surgery clinic in PIP implants case

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:50:42 +0000

The Harley Medical Group (Ireland) Limited, Herbert Place, Dublin petitioned the High Court for a winding up order and appointment of a liquidator on grounds it is insolvent and unable to pay its debts. The British Virgin Islands-registered company began operations in Ireland in 1999 but ceased trading last autumn. (Independent) >

Filed under: Hospitals/Clinics

Michael O’Keefe: VHI ‘billed for patients on trolleys’

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:49:47 +0000

THE VHI can end up wrongly paying out more than €1,000 to a public hospital even though a patient is on an emergency department trolley, the insurer’s chief executive John O’Dwyer has admitted. “We do random checks – but some slip through, I admit that,” he said after a leading hospital consultant described the practice as a scandal. Mr O’Dwyer was responding to a claim by Mater Hospital ophthalmologist Dr Michael O’Keefe, who said the insurance company was being billed in some cases for patients who were on trolleys. (Times) >

Filed under: Michael O'Keefe (opthalmologist), System Tagged: Health Insurance, VHI

Ruth Foley on suicidality in abortion legislation

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:27:04 +0000

If the Bill is passed, and some doctors authorise terminations for women whose risk of suicide could have been managed by other treatments, how would anyone know about it? How would these doctors be held to account? (Times) >

Filed under: Medicolegal, Ruth Foley Tagged: Abortion, Legislation, Suicide

Mental health services need long-overdue cultural and structural revamp

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:22:55 +0000

In 2013, mental health services are still staffed at 24 per cent below the level recommended in A Vision for Change . Mental Health Reform has high expectations of what can be achieved through the role of director. This year is also the year when mental health services will have, for the first time, a national director for mental health. Culturally, immense change in attitudes, behaviour and power structures by professionals and people using services is required. (Times) >

Filed under: Services Tagged: Mental health, national director for mental health

Is Ireland is danger of being left behind due to lack of stem cell research laws?

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:44:42 +0000

Ireland is one of the few European countries that does not have legislation or meaningful regulation to guide this kind of research. This gap leaves scientists caught in a web of ethical uncertainty – at a time when the State’s official policy is to promote research and development in these kinds of cutting-edge fields. The Regenerative Medicine Institute, a partnership between scientists, clinicians and industry, is due to begin clinical trials next year of therapies that could play a key role in tackling aspects of illnesses such as diabetes. (Times) >

Filed under: Research Tagged: Stem cells

Scientists issue warning on embryonic stem cells breakthrough

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:42:48 +0000

The new technique for cloning human embryos announced by US scientists may carry with it ethical problems associated with destruction of viable embryos. It is also important that the Government introduce legislation to control research that involves the use of embryos, according to scientists based in Ireland. There was a mixed reaction to the news that a research team in the US had successfully cloned embryos using human tissues and had harvested stem cells from them. (Times) >

Filed under: Perceptions, Research Tagged: Stem cells

Medical experts to address Oireachtas abortion hearings

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:40:04 +0000

Dr Rhona Mahony from the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street and Dr Sam Coulter Smyth of the Rotunda Hospital will give their opinion on the heads of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill 2013. Other experts in medicine and obstetrics discussing the proposals today will include Minister for Health James Reilly, secretary general at the Department of Health Ambrose McLoughlin and chief medical officer Tony Holohan. The Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Irish College of General Practitioners, Irish Medical Council and Royal College of Physicians of Ireland will also be represented. (Times) >

Filed under: Rhona Mahony, Sam Coulter-Smith (obstetrician) Tagged: Abortion

Most Irish women opt for screening instead of surgery

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:22:57 +0000

Dr David Gallagher, a cancer geneticist at the Mater Private Hospital in Dublin, said the remaining women who are told they have the BRCA-1 gene after a blood test opt for regular screening. However women have to wait 18 months for the test to be carried out to determine whether they are carrying the gene. Private health insurers do not cover the cost of the test and it costs €1,400 to have it done privately. (Independent) >

Filed under: Cancer Tagged: Screening

Two more hospitals lose emergency departments

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:20:42 +0000

St Columcille’s Hospital in Loughlinstown, Dublin – in the constituency of Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore – and Navan Hospital in Co Meath are earmarked to lose the service and get local injury units instead. They are among nine smaller hospitals earmarked for overhauls in the ‘Securing the Future of Small Hospitals Report’, which promises to secure their future and further develop their role while delivering services safely. (Independent) >

Filed under: Hospitals/Clinics Tagged: Reconfiguration, Reform

Irish Times editorial: Hospital reform

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:10:22 +0000

In the light of such a poor track record of aspiration followed by inaction, can the latest effort to reconfigure hospitals work? (Times) >

Filed under: Hospitals/Clinics Tagged: Reconfiguration