This newspaper has uncovered inconsistencies in the process used to choose the location of primary care centres, a central plank of Government health policy. The saga stretches back to the resignation of junior minister Róisín Shortall, following the alteration of…
Novus Medica
Medical news service from Penhire
Blog Archives
Minister’s aide set up probe into Reilly care centre links
A spokesman for the Department of Health said the investigation had found “no impropriety” on the part of the minister. However, the unprecedented probe raises questions about the trust in Dr Reilly within his own department at the highest level. (Independent) >
Labour proposal for free GP care ran into difficulty from the start
Róisín Shortall’s departure spells further trouble for the Government’s ambitious plans to introduce free universal primary care, writes PAUL CULLEN , Health Correspondent FREE GP care for all was the promised land pledged by the Government to a weary people when it…
State reaches deal on cost with cancer drug producer
THE CANCER drug Ipilimumab will be made available to patients who have a very aggressive form of malignant melanoma, the Department of Health announced yesterday evening. The Health Service Executive and the National Cancer Control Programme said in a statement…
Dr Ambrose McLoughlin new secretary general of Department of Health
AN EXPERT from outside the mainstream Civil Service has been appointed as the new secretary general at the Department of Health. Dr Ambrose McLoughlin, the chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, the pharmacy regulator, was yesterday appointed by…
Impasse in talks over drug prices
THE PHARMACEUTICAL industry has accused the Department of Health of reneging on agreements over new therapies for patients after the companies had already delivered savings of €240 million. The industry says it sees no point in entering negotiations with the…
Muiris Houston: Time to stop keeping us in the dark over health cuts
The Ombudsman argues that the HSE and the health boards have not had a fair chance to deliver an acceptable public service. Her patience with the public health system is admirable, and consistent with her role as Ombudsman for the…
Doctors dispute healthcare report
A NUMBER of consultants at Beaumont Hospital are understood to have threatened legal action against the Department of Health if it presses ahead with plans to publish a statistical report on healthcare outcomes in its current form. The department had…
Health spending priorities revealed
IN THE face of widespread cutbacks, the Department of Health argued that priority must be given to the National Children’s Hospital, the replacement of the Central Mental Hospital, the national plan for radiation oncology, an expanded programme of primary care…
Examiner editorial: Free GP care – Hope for healthcare
The abolition of GP fees is a “spend a penny to save a pound” idea — the kind of long-term thinking for which governments are not generally known. (Examiner) >
State aiming for free GP care for all by 2015
[From Times >] THE GOVERNMENT is pushing ahead with plans to introduce free GP care for all by 2015 and universal health insurance the following year, Minister of State with Responsibility for Primary Care Róisín Shortall said yesterday. She also…
GPs escape cuts for medical certs
FEES PAID by the Department of Social Protection to GPs and other doctors for signing medical certificates escaped cuts imposed on other State payments because the rates were considered to have fallen behind in monetary value over recent years. “Notwithstanding…
New round of cutbacks on the cards
AN INTERNAL Department of Health report has set out highly controversial options for restricting access to health services and to put in place new charges or co-payments. Among the measures proposed is new legislation which would specifically state that the…
Government to carry out review of health policy
The Minister for Health, James Reilly, will host a national consultation day in Dublin next Monday at which a number of international experts in the field of public health will speak. The aim is to develop a high-level policy framework…
HSE’s trolley figures do not reflect reality, says Reilly
Dr Reilly, when questioned on how he was now saying something different to what a senior official in his department said a day earlier, stated: “Well the facts speak for themselves. That’s what my position is. That’s what the department’s…
Tagged with: Department of Health, Minister, Politics, Trolleys
Posted in Hospitals/Clinics, Nursing
Posted in Hospitals/Clinics, Nursing
Department of Health spends €220,000 in VHI cost probe
The Department of Health has spent more than €220,000 in finding out what is driving up the VHI’s costs, the Irish Independent has learned. The large bill for these reports, drawn up by outside experts, can be a shock to the…
New minister faces lots of loose ends
With the new programme for government, agreed by Fine Gael and Labour at the weekend, setting out a commitment that the HSE will “cease to exist over time”, the new minister will also have to decide where a draft memorandum…
HSE and private health insurance scrapped with plan for single-tier model
THE Government plans to scrap private health insurance and the Health Service Executive (HSE) under a new healthcare model where those who can pay will, and those who can’t will be paid for by the Exchequer. The proposals commit to…
Healthcare injustice can no longer be ignored
Our health service is bad even for those who thought insurance could shield them from squalor and neglect, writes FINTAN O’TOOLE FOR THE last two decades, there has been an unspoken assumption about the health service in Ireland. It is that…
Times editorial: Health service after the cuts
Take the 21 per cent rise in charges for private/semi-private beds in public hospitals. At one level a welcome step in eliminating a two-tier system in these hospitals, it will lead to a significant increase in the cost of private…
What will our health service look like in 2011?
IN A health budget briefing that was understandably overshadowed by economic decisions of greater national importance, Minister for Health Mary Harney outlined further cuts to the health service for 2011. In a letter to the chairman of the HSE board,…
Hike in health insurance as private bed costs increase
PRIVATE health insurance is expected to increase after Health Minister Mary Harney confirmed last night that private bed charges in public hospitals are to rise by 21%. Ms Harney said it was estimated that the recovery of the full economic…
Efficiency in healthcare could save up to 5% of GDP, says OECD report
IRELAND COULD save up to 5 per cent of future Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by increasing efficiency in the healthcare system, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (Irish Times) >>>
Hospital chief resigned over differences with Minister
THE FORMER chairman of the new national paediatric hospital has said that he stepped down because he could not agree with Minister for Health Mary Harney on a range of important issues. In further correspondence with the Minister, which was…
Minister says €110m can be raised
MINISTER FOR Health Mary Harney has insisted that €110 million in voluntary contribution towards the new paediatric hospital in Dublin can be raised. “The philanthropic contribution is highly achievable,” she said. (Irish Times) >>>
Vincent Browne on Mary Harney
“If anybody needed reminding of the harm Mary Harney has caused, just look at the shuddering incompetence of the way the redundancy scheme in the Health Service Executive was announced on Monday. That a redundancy scheme which should have been…
A prescription to curb critically high healthcare costs
Irish healthcare costs have risen more rapidly than anywhere else in Europe in the face of an inactive Government, writesDAN O’BRIEN What has driven the seemingly inexorable rise in spending on healthcare in developed countries in general, and in Ireland…
Health saving sought under pay deal
In a letter sent last Friday to the implementation body for the Croke Park deal, the secretary general of the Department of Health Michael Scanlan confirmed that the HSE was looking at voluntary redundancy scheme for clerical and administrative staff:…
Putting a price on our health at Pfizer/ ‘Irish Times’ health forum
Ireland has the third most inequitable system in terms of access to hospital care, the Pfizer/ ‘Irish Times’ health forum is told, writesKATHRYN HAYES Referring to research carried out on healthcare systems in 21 OECD countries, Dr John Barton, cardiologist at…
Department of Health’s management of HSE must improve, says review
A MAJOR Government review of the Department of Health has found that it has not yet got to grips with managing the Health Service Executive (HSE), that allocation of staff is very “uneven”, and that staff morale in the department…
