Detailing a decade of research, Oxford University political economist David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu, an assistant professor of medicine and an epidemiologist at Stanford University, said their findings show austerity is seriously bad for health. In a book to be…
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Blog Archives
William Behan on true healthcare costs
(Letter to Indepdent) > “These facts belie the claim that the Irish health service is overfunded relative to its productivity.” The recent leaked troika report on Irish healthcare costs and effectiveness demonstrates that their opinions are based on exceptional statistics…
Doctors here are paid too much, says new EU report
THE salaries of hospital doctors must be cut or patients will suffer, the European Commission has warned. A draft leaked report on our progress in the bailout programme says Health Minister James Reilly should cut the salaries of our hospital doctors, who are the…
Protest held over Navan hospital cuts
About 7,000 people attended a lunchtime rally in Co Meath today to protest against cuts to services at Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan. Speaking at the rally, Sinn Féin TD Peadar Toibín, chairman of the Save Navan Hospital campaign, called…
We’ve paid high price for cutting medics’ pay
(Letter to Independent) > AS Oscar Wilde might have said, for a country to lose one dean of medicine may be regarded as a misfortune, but losing two looks like carelessness. With heads of both TCD and UCD medical schools…
Health service facing cuts of €1bn in 2013-2014
THE HEALTH service is facing further cuts of about €1 billion in funding in 2013-14 while staff numbers will be reduced by an additional 6,500, management told trade unions yesterday. At a meeting to discuss reforms under the Croke Park…
HSE national director of clinical strategy and programmes, Dr Barry White’s, last weeks in office
Asked where he sees the health service in 10 years’ time, the departing clinical chief of the HSE says that as a patient he would like to see a service where he can continue to get the excellent access that…
Cuts force hospital to shut down major surgical ward
ONE of the country’s biggest hospitals has shut a major surgical ward as the first in a wave of expected cutbacks begins to bite. The Mater hospital in Dublin, which has a waiting list of 5,295 patients in need of…
Turlough O’Donnell on doctors’ deal and patient care
[Letter to Times >] Sir, – Minister for Health James Reilly’s assertion that the deal he has struck with hospital consultants will result in savings of €200 million would make the likes of Lewis Carroll blush. The notion that by…
Beds reduction proposed for Meath and Louth hospitals
BED NUMBERS will be reduced and services curtailed in hospitals in counties Louth and Meath under cost-saving proposals drawn up by the Health Service Executive. The details are contained in a confidential memo that outlines proposed cuts to Louth County…
“inconsistent with safe surgical practice”
ONE BED in six remained closed at the Children’s University Hospital in Temple Street over the summer because of a cost-containment programme. The hospital has a total of 145 beds. The cutbacks prompted surgeons at the hospital to warn earlier…
Hospitals ‘may run out of money by October’
Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Mater Hospital in Dublin, Micheal O’Keeffe, has said it is not clear where these cuts can be made. He also said there are strong rumours that hospitals in the capital may be out of cash before…
Prof Ray Kinsella on Healthcare not about ‘cost overruns’ but investment
Risks to health status have increased. So too has rationing. Even senior medical and nursing staff have been emasculated of responsibility: “You want some more stationery? Send in a business plan.” There is a lack of real engagement between Government…
HSE cuts may knock on United Drug
The HSE paid United Drug about €54.5m last year for pharmaceutical and clinical products — making it the HSE’s best-paid supplier in 2011. Healthcare group Uniphar, which is chaired by former Tesco Ireland boss, Maurice Pratt, was the third-best paid…
How €130m in health savings will be made
[Independent >] €37m saved through cash management, delaying paying invoices until absolutely necessary, using up existing stocks, and paying only what is due on any given date. €26.5m saved on medical equipment, furniture, education, training, office expenses, travel and subsistence…
Nurses to resist HSE saving measures
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says it will resist new cost saving measures announced yesterday by the HSE as they jeopardise patient safety. The Health Service Executive says it plans to impose €130m worth of cuts between now and…
Sick patients to be sent home for the weekend
CASH-strapped hospitals will have to send some patients home on weekend breaks as part of a new round of draconian health cuts. The hospitals, which must slash €35m in spending on agency staff and overtime before the end of the…
HSE staff told turn off lights, heat to cut costs
THE HEAD of the HSE has told his 100,000 staff to switch off unnecessary lights and heat in an effort to make further cuts of some €130 million between now and the end of the year. Senior health managers were…
Letter to Times re cost reductions at HSE
A talented senior surgeon, having discharged his patient from theatre, directed his team to the adjacent room where the cleaning supplies were stored. Said surgeon, equally gifted with squeegee as with scalpel, led a meticulous disinfection of the theatre which…
HSE boss says new work practices needed
New work practices will be needed in the health system to ensure services continue, HSE boss Cathal Magee has warned. Mr Magee said the 3% hospital activity reduction target set in January was no longer valid in view of the…
Overspending hospitals told: treat fewer patients
Hospitals have been told to cut down on the numbers of patients they treat because they have overspent by more than €76.5m so far this year. (Independent) >
Health cuts will kill babies, Labour chief tells ministers
Concern will be heightened this weekend by the intervention of Dr Gerry Burke, a consultant obstetrician, who has said that proposed a new hospital management system in the mid-west region “amounts to rampant managerialism”. The region already has the highest…
Cancer patient refused specialist pain treatment due to cutbacks
Explaining the sudden change, a member of pain specialist consultant Dr Declan O’Keeffe’s team told Mr Keaveney this was because of HSE and Department of Health budget cut-related changes which mean hospitals cannot provide the care to patients outside their…
Fears for patients as HSE is €89m over budget for 2012
Among the hospitals facing the worst “cash pressures” toward the end of 2011 were the Galway University Hospital group, Tallaght Hospital, the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. “Obviously this matter is of…
Reilly: IMF is not targeting medical cards
Health Minister James Reilly has eased fears the International Monetary Fund is targeting free healthcare schemes. The minister said his clear understanding was the IMF had made inquiries about the medical card scheme and how it operated. “There has been…
Holles Street saved my child, says Miriam
The hospital’s Master, Dr Rhona Mahony (41), said it hopes to raise between €5m and €10m over the next seven years in order to upgrade the Victorian hospital. (Independent) >
Temple Street hospital to cut surgeries
ONE OF the four surgical operation theatres at the Children’s University Hospital on Temple Street is to be closed on a rolling basis from next week. The planned cuts were strongly criticised by consultant ophthalmologist at the hospital Michael O’Keefe.…
Tagged with: Budgets, Cutbacks
Posted in Michael O'Keefe (opthalmologist), Services, System, Temple Street
Posted in Michael O'Keefe (opthalmologist), Services, System, Temple Street
48 of 57 hospital consultants who are to leave will be replaced
THE HEALTH Service Executive is to replace 524 staff out of more than 4,300 who are to leave before changes to pension and lump sum arrangements come into force at the end of the month. However, chief executive of the…
Ronan O’Sullivan calls for more hospital beds
A LEADING clinician has said dangerous levels of overcrowding in paediatric hospitals could be alleviated overnight by opening more beds. Quality of care is being adversely affected in emergency departments in Dublin’s two paediatric hospitals and in mixed emergency departments…
Cuts to extend waiting list at Munster pain relief clinic
Hundreds of people in need of significant pain relief support are set to see waiting lists surge as a result of health service retirements and budget cutbacks. This is due to cutbacks at the Waterford Regional Hospital, which include the…
