The Cabinet committee on health … agreed I should rework the proposal and come up with a better option for phasing in free GP care. This could involve, for example, starting with people in a certain age group, or people…
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Medical news service from Penhire
Blog Archives
James Reilly accused of waiting list ‘con trick’
Minister for Health James Reilly has been accused of “massaging figures” and perpetrating a “con trick” on “rocketing” hospital waiting lists. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin made the claim in the Dáil as he highlighted a daily email being sent to wards…
Reilly ‘dismantling’ health service
Former minister of state Roísín Shortall launched a blistering attack on Minister for Health James Reilly, claiming he was going to “completely dismantle our public health service and send it into freefall”. She described his legislation on health service governance…
Shortall accused Reilly over second list
Separate from her concerns about the list of projects to be developed using public private partnerships (PPPs), Ms Shortall accused the Minister of disregarding the ranking drawn up with HSE officials for capital-funded centres, according to the documents obtained under…
Politics, not patients, the key influence in choosing hospital site
One would have thought it important enough that the whole country should have a say on where it’s located and to make sure that the interests of children are properly served. (Independent) >
Maeve Sheehan: Political meddling, curse of the health service, is back
In the past few months, Dr Reilly has brought politics right back into the heart of the health service. The Health Service Executive might be a bureaucratic, money-sucking monster. But one of its achievements has been to put key decisions…
Children’s hospital site now a ‘political decision’
THE LOCATION of the new national children’s hospital is becoming a political decision rather than a medical one, the master of the Rotunda maternity hospital has warned. With a long-awaited decision on the project imminent, Dr Sam Coulter-Smith has expressed…
Tagged with: Development, Minister, Politics
Posted in National children's, Sam Coulter-Smith (obstetrician)
Posted in National children's, Sam Coulter-Smith (obstetrician)
Saving lives is not my job says Howlin
Mr Howlin said that media commentary in recent days that lives will be lost or at risk by these staff departures is “shocking.” He said: “I would ask people delivering the services on the frontlines, it is their responsibility to…
GPs refusing to join care teams
SOME GENERAL practitioners (GPs) around the State are refusing to participate in the introduction of the Government’s primary care strategy in protest at cuts in their fees. HSE national director for integrated care Laverne McGuinness told the Dáil Public Accounts…
Irish Times editorial: Time for clarity on health cuts
At a time of falling incomes and high unemployment, medical inflation has risen and pressure is being exerted on public services. The cost of private insurance rose rapidly, becoming unaffordable for many people as the VHI responded to competition and…
Reilly’s approach to A&E unit cynical, says Martin
OPPOSITION politicians in Cork city warned that the closure of the emergency department at the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital and the transfer of orthopaedic services from St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital may be a disaster for patients. Fianna Fáil leader…
Dr Bill Tormey on Bahrain and the rights of doctors
[Letter to Examiner >>>] PROFESSOR Eoin O’Brien resigned as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland “in protest against the failure of either Royal College to support colleagues who have been prevented from performing the fundamental duty…
Professor Eoin O’Brien on Bahrain Medics
Writing in the Irish Examiner today, Professor Eoin O’Brien, a member of the delegation, said they had met with families of the imprisoned medics and that many felt betrayed by RCSI-Bahrain. “Their regard for the previous minister for health, who…
Kenny blames health overspend on ‘incompetence’ or ‘mismanagement’
TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has accused hospitals of either “incompetence” or “mismanagement” after a HSE report showed they were €120 million over budget less than halfway through the year. HSE director of finance Liam Woods told RTÉ radio that a €170m…
We must be honest about what our hospitals can do
Money will not solve the challenges facing the facility in Loughlinstown in terms of patient volume and specialist care, says Stephen Donnelly. ‘SHAME on you, Stephen Donnelly,” the man shouted, on Arklow’s main street last Friday. The next day, in…
Delegation to Bahrain described as terrorists
AN IRISH delegation that travelled to Bahrain to highlight the plight of detained doctors there was referred to as “terrorists” by the head of the Bahrain Medical Society. The Irish group of health workers and politicians led by orthopaedic surgeon…
Bahraini minister pledges to ask king to free medics
Damian McCormack, the orthopaedic surgeon leading the group, told The Irish Times it had been an “extremely successful trip” despite earlier doubts over getting visas. (Times) >>>
Minister rejects misleading data claim on hospital mortality rates
MINISTER FOR Health James Reilly has rejected claims that he used misleading figures about mortality rates at Roscommon County Hospital to support the Coalition’s decision to downgrade the hospital’s A&E unit. The Roscommon Hospital Action Committee made the accusation yesterday…
Turmoil as Gilmore refuses to back cuts in his local A&E
LABOUR leader Eamon Gilmore last night refused to back cuts to his own local hospital, throwing government plans to axe A&E services countrywide into further turmoil. He has been put on the spot by plans to halt the round-the-clock A&E in St…
Roscommon, A&E IOU
Maurice Hayes writes: “The sordid unravelling of promises to maintain accident and emergency services at Roscommon Hospital exemplifies the emptiness of such pre-election undertakings, the glibness with which they are made, the foolishness of doing so and the greater foolishness…
Consultants and barristers next in line for wage cuts
One minister said: “The view of the Government is that if we are engaged in the business of cutting wages, this time, unlike Fianna Fail, we’re going to start from the top.” They added that “the hospital consultants are next”…
Consultants blamed for poor training of doctors
HOSPITAL CONSULTANTS have been blamed for the poor training of junior doctors by Wexford Fine Gael TD Liam Twomey. He said it would be generous of him to say his own training was only haphazard. “I can honestly say disaster…
Mary Lawlor of Front Line on medics in Bahrain
I have a few questions with regard to the six visits Prof Kelly of RCSI made to Bahrain, and last week’s fact finding mission to Bahrain undertaken by Dr Donohoe RCPI, which were cited in their letters. 1. Did they…
Royal College of Physicians on Bahrain doctors
[Letter to Times >>>] Sir, – The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) is supporting calls for justice for doctors arrested in Bahrain. Within the past week, the president of RCPI visited Bahrain with two specific objectives. First, to…
Cathal J Kelly on Bahrain doctors
[Letter to Times >>>] Sir, – The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) fully respects the unequivocal right of all doctors to practise as enshrined in the Geneva Convention. We are very aware of and concerned about the plight…
College ‘concern’ at plight of medics
THE ROYAL College of Surgeons in Ireland has expressed “deep concerns for the rights of detained medical personnel” in Bahrain in its first public statement criticising the actions of the ruling regime in the kingdom. In a letter published in The…
Leading medic resigns in Bahrain protest
Professor Eoin O’Brien, former president of the Irish Heart Foundation&, said he believes he is the first fellow to resign “in principle” from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. The professor of molecular pharmacology at the Conway Institute of…
‘Government health service plans require an extra 1,000 GPs’
Proposals by Health Minister James Reilly to introduce a Dutch style health service here may not work, delegates were told at the forum, “A New Government — New Health System?” at University College Cork. “We already have a problem retaining…
Prof Eoin O’Brien on medics in Bahrain
[Letter to Times >>>] Madam, – I write as a graduate and former member of the academic staff of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI)…
Universal health insurance proposals ‘very ambitious’
Dr Brian Turner, of the health economics group at the department of economics at University College Cork, said major doubts must hang over the possibility of the Fine Gael/Labour Coalition achieving its planned reform within its proposed timeframe. The Government,…
