I don’t know about you but I’m finding the expenses revelations very hard to swallow. At a time when the country is in financial crisis, the idea that somebody who’s on more money than the Taoiseach, should get a bonus is highly questionable but it’s all the more outrageous when you consider the current state of the health service. Add to this, the revelations about expenses accrued by Mary Harney as Minister for Health and it becomes a bitter pill to swallow…
The Sunday Tribune has revealed that Mary Harney ran up the highest departmental bill in terms of ministerial costs and expenses. Granted our Minister for Health is a busy woman but you have to question why it was necessary for her to travel by the ‘€7,000-an-hour’ Government jet for her business trips abroad.
“Health Minister Mary Harney and her husband Brian Geoghegan ran up a bill of nearly €65,000 on hotels, limousine hire and accommodation in the space of just three years. That figure does not include the massive bill for the Government jet, which Harney used on almost every occasion she travelled abroad and which cost the taxpayer more than €735,000.” The Sunday Tribune, October 2009
Next, we are told that the HSE board has awarded it’s CEO Prof Brendan Drumm, a bonus payment of €70,000, based on his performance in 2007. This bonus is being awarded at a time when the HSE is making plans to reduce spending on the health service by up to €1.2 billion!
Here’s what Dr James Reilly, opposition Health spokesperson, had to say on the subject…
Have you noticed the sudden upsurge in radio and TV ads for private healthcare? Frankly, they sicken me. “Because you deserve better” quotes one ad for a state-of-the-art private hospital. Because who exactly deserves better? Answer: Those who can afford private health insurance. But what about those who can’t, I ask? Don’t they deserve better too?
I hold private health insurance and I make no apology for it. I’ve a complex medical condition which requires regular medical supervision. Unfortunately, I cannot rely on our public health service to provide the care needed. Our health system has been so stripped of services that ‘public’ patients face long delays in accessing out-patient appointments and treatment. Privately insured patients can access care faster by paying for it. Such is the inequity of a 2-tier health service. Emergency care is different, it’s provided on the basis of need only. The delay in the public system, is putting people’s lives at risk. Remember Susie Long? I’m not prepared to risk my health because of our government’s failure to provide an equitable health service for all. I therefore see my health insurance as a priority, not a luxury. I choose to do without other non-necessities in life so as to afford the health insurance. I’m lucky to have that choice. Many don’t.
In these difficult times of recession, many people are struggling to maintain a roof over their heads/to afford enough food to feed the family. The advertisements for private healthcare appear very inappropriate in the circumstances. Of course, the real reason why these companies are advertising, has nothing to do with your welfare or mine. They are desperately trying to survive too.
A new health warning has been issued in Ireland. Public information leaflets and posters have been distributed to ports and airports. You have an important role to play in stopping the agenda of privatisation and for-profit medicine. Stop the spread of this pandemic disease now.
Radical health reform, in terms of creating a universal system of healthcare which offers equality and accessibility, is one of the greatest challenges facing Ireland today. Play your part.
Having spent the best part of the last month undergoing treatment in a semi-private ward of a large public hospital, I’ve seen first-hand how our health service operates. It’s the same old story. Once you get through A&E and into the system, the care is excellent. But it’s not all a bed of roses.
In Ireland, we have a 2-tier public health service with a unique mix of public/private patients and public/private consultants. Approximately one third of hospital consultants work in public-only practice. That leaves 70% of consultants allowed to practice publicly and privately. These consultants enjoy the best of both worlds. They do not have a boss, their hours are not monitored and many enjoy extraordinary salaries. Granted, our Minister for Health, Mary Harney has tried to exert control over hospital consultants by introducing new contracts (terms and conditions with the State) and new posts of clinical directors (about 100) to manage and monitor hours. However, having watched the consultants do their ward rounds over the last month, I’ve come to the firm conclusion that we’re all being held to ransom. It’s time someone blew the whistle.
I witnessed consultants reassuring elderly patients that there was no hurry for them to go home. I’m talking here about patients who had very obviously recovered from the acute illness that brought them into hospital. These patients had homes to go to with family in support, they were not waiting to be allocated a nursing home bed. We hear so much about the shortage of beds in our acute hospitals. Why are the consultants not working hard to free-up beds?
I saw the look of disbelief on the faces of the junior doctors (NCHDs) as a consultant announced further tests on a young girl who’d been in hospital for many weeks and whose tests had all come back normal. This girl appeared very well to me so why was she occupying a hospital bed? Why were her investigations continuing as an in-patient?
Could it be that hospital consultants choose to have a proportion of beds occupied by patients who require minimal input of care/time? Patients whose health insurance will continue to reimburse both the hospital and private consultant as long as they occupy a bed? Is this the realistic truth? I presume that the NCHDs remain silent on this issue because their jobs depend on pleasing the consultant?
I don’t know about you but my conscience finds it very difficult to accept that ‘well’ patients are occupying hospital beds when I know that acutely ill patients are lying on trolleys in A&E?
We have some fantastic consultant doctors in this country who are totally dedicated to their profession and I’ve no wish to tarnish their reputation. However, as a patient, I feel a need to protect our health service. The fact is, I depend on it.
To: Ms Mary Harney, Minister for Health & Children
I’m writing to let you know my views on the public health service. Having spent three days last week residing in the busy A&E department of a large teaching hospital, I feel qualified to comment. The experience has left me wanting answers to many questions. Please listen to what I have to say.
Last Friday my doctor sent me to A&E for emergency care as I’d developed a serious complication following surgery some weeks earlier. On arrival in A&E, I was rapidly processed by a triage nurse and seen by the registrar on-call. An immediate decision was taken to admit me to the hospital. I finally reached a ward on Monday afternoon! During the 3 days and nights spent in A&E, I was extremely well-cared for but the conditions were hell. The staff were so busy, patients had long waits for help. It was like being in a war zone, people lying on trolleys everywhere with further casualties arriving by the hour. It was also extremely noisy with little or no privacy. These conditions do not aid recovery.
My first question to you, Mary, is this… why must sick and injured people be exposed to these awful conditions in order to be admitted to hospital? Where are the 1,000 extra beds you promised when you took over as Minister for Health 5 years ago? I sure could have done with one of those beds last Friday.
It was a great relief when I was finally transferred to a 4-bed semi-private ward where I remain. I’m receiving excellent medical and nursing care here. Thankfully, this hallmark of Irish healthcare remains intact despite the inadequate funding of our public health service. I’ve no doubt that this is due to the dedication of the staff who work in frontline services. The unit I’m in, has been recently refurbished and is beautifully fresh and clean. I’ve no complaints really except I’d obviously prefer to be in my own howm. The catering is good, plenty of good nutritional food and frequent offers of hot/cold drinks. I’m very aware that this aids a speedy recovery and subsequent discharge from hospital. I’ve not always hit this lucky.
Over the years, I’ve spent many weeks as a patient in this same hospital, on the public wards. It has always been a grim experience in terms of patient comfort, lack of facilities etc. I don’t think much has changed although I have heard that hygeine levels have improved on the big wards. My medical history is extensive so I choose to hold private health insurance to ensure that I can get care when needed. My case is complex and so I cannot be admitted to one of the smaller private hospitals for treatment although I’m fully insured to do so. These smaller hospitals cannot provide the care I require.
I want you to know, Mary, that it’s distressing to observe your clear policy of starving the public hospitals of funding while you promote the development of co-located private hospitals. The staff who work at the frontline in our public hospitals, are fantastic but they are being stretched to the limit to provide the care needed in our under-resourced public hospital system. I plead with you to stop bleeding our health service to death while you continue to promote an inequitable health service. Give us a break, Mary.
The semi-private unit I’m in, is excellent. I do not need for anything better as all my needs are being met here. I’ve hit lucky on this occasion as this is the most comfortable unit in the hospital. However, the WHOLE hospital should run like this unit. Instead, the majority of the rest of the hospital is no longer fit for purpose. It’s time to put our health resources to proper use. Surely everyone deserves fair and equitable healthcare?
I turned on the news this evening to hear that 909 patients around the country are waiting to have a colonoscopy and some of those people have been waiting for more than two years. In December, our Minister for Health told the HSE to comply with a target of access to a colonoscopy within four weeks of being referred by a doctor. I had a private consultation with a gastroenterologist this afternoon and have been booked for an urgent colonoscopy next Monday morning. This sadly, is the difference between public and private health care.
Unfortunately, the antibiotic I’ve been on for the past 8 days (Vancomycin), has failed to bring a nasty colitis under control. After almost six weeks of worsening symptoms, I’m in real need of help. While this means having to go through a dreaded colonoscopy again, right now that seems like a doddle compared to my present circumstances. The diagnosis is most likely to be an antibiotic-associated colitis caused by the ongoing treatment for the chronic infection in my head. However, biopsies are required to confirm this and also to rule-out other possible causes, such as Crohn’s Disease.
While queueing to see the doctor today, I received a call from another doctor’s office. The surgeon in the UK has requested a CT scan of my skull before I travel to Nottingham for a review consultation. My surgeon in Ireland has organised the scan for tomorrow and I will travel to the UK in a couple of week’s time to receive the verdict. It’s certainly been all go today.
The reason I’m able to access prompt medical care for my health problems, is simply because I hold private health insurance. The policy is a huge burden on our family budget each year but I cannot afford to be without it. The delay in accessing investigations in our public health service, is costing lives. It seems that little has changed since the untimely death of Susie Long who succeeded in highlighting the inequities in the system. The Irish Cancer Society has described the waiting times as unacceptable. I’d describe the situation as scandalous and it’s time the HSE was held accountable.
I’m fed-up listening to the mixed messages coming from the Department of Health and the HSE. One minute our Minister is vowing to provide extra beds in the health service and the next we’re being told that we’ve got too many beds. It’s time that Harney and those muppets in the HSE made their minds up.
We have a new chief medical officer (CMO) of the Department of Health, Dr Tony Holohan and in his first media interview since taking up his appointment, he announced that the Irish health system has too many hospital beds. Brendan Drumm, CEO of the HSE, is also peddling the same message. Meanwhile, our Minister for Health’s solution to relieving the bottleneck in A&E, has been to promote private for-profit co-located hospitals as a means of fast-tracking new beds into the system. At the same time, the Dept of Health has deemed our smaller hospitals ‘unsafe’ and is busily closing them down without first adjusting the conditions in the ‘centralised’ units’, with adverse consequences predicted.
The reality is that as things stand at the moment, our health service is in disarray. We have chaos in our A&E departments because of the bottleneck caused through lack of beds. The reason for the log-jam is because our tertiary healthcare services have been neglected over the years and many OAP’s now have no choice but to occupy hospital beds long term. Instead of Harney wasting her time and our money on privatising healthcare in this country, the focus should be put on developing primary care. Nobody refutes the fact that hospitals are not the safest place to be when recuperating from surgery. Primary care is the way forward, with enhanced outpatient care taking place in GP surgeries and public health clinics. This would cut the need for bed numbers with patient care moved to an outpatient or a community setting.
However, the Dept of Health and HSE have repeatedly failed to explain their role. The mixed messages emanating from the Health department are doing nothing to improve public confidence in the health service. Let the new CMO of the Dept of Health come out and tell us what the plans are. We need to know that the problem of overcrowding in our hospitals will be solved. We need to hear that primary care will get the investment needed to take the pressure off the hospitals. Stop the indecision, we need reason to be hopeful.
There’s one thing that mustn’t be forgotten in all of this and that is the patient. Think back to the last time you were in hospital. What meant the most to you? Was it the good/bad facilities or was it the friendly staff who cared for you? What really counts when one is ill, is kindness but sadly, this is rapidly disappearing as our health service is decimated by mismanagement. The Minister would do well to remember the need for a familiar smiling face.
Full credit goes to the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland (CFAI) for launching a major campaign to get the Minister for Health to honour her commitment to provide isolation rooms for CF patients. However, it is still too early to celebrate this victory as the building of the unit is dependent on a ‘build now, pay later‘ funding scheme which may yet prevent it from going ahead. It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings!
The Minister for Health and the HSE promised to build by 2010, a new 120-bed facility with 30 en suite rooms for CF patients, at St Vincent’s hospital in Dublin. This €40 million unit will also have isolation facilities for patients with other conditions. Last month, following a reduction of 26 per cent in its capital budget, the HSE announced it didn’t have the funds to go ahead and that construction would be delayed until 2011 at the earliest. The uproar that ensued following this announcement has embarrassed Harney into making a u-turn on this decision and yesterday, she announced an alternative plan to fund this vital facility. She has proposed a scheme whereby payment will be made at the end of the construction phase. Builders will be asked to tender for the project on the basis that they would not be paid until the facility is completed, in about two years’ time. This is a different way of funding this project as it involves the construction company financing the development up to the final phase of construction.
The Government, the Minister for Health and the HSE have all failed in their duty of care to Irish people with CF. How a nation treats it’s most vulnerable citizens, is what determines it’s right to call itself civilised. Ireland has been found seriously wanting in this regard. I refuse to applaud Mary Harney for her ‘innovative’ plan to solve the CF accommodation crisis. She could have proposed this unusual funding plan years ago and saved a great deal of heartache in the process. But then it’s not about saving lives, is it? It’s all about saving face.
Have you noticed that our Minister for Health, Mary Harney has been ominously quiet of late? What’s going on at the Department of Health? Leadership has been notably absent despite the spiralling chaos in our health service.
This is what Senator Fitzgerald, Fine Gael Senate Leader and Spokesperson on Health, has to say about Harney’s silence…
Silence from Health Minister as co-location big idea looks increasingly shaky
“In 2005 Minister Mary Harney announced her co-location big idea claiming it would deliver 1,000 extra beds ‘in the fastest and most cost-effective way in the next five years.’ Almost four years later, not a single brick has been laid and not a single bed opened.”
“Recent media reports revealed that six Beacon head office staff have been let go and senior management have agreed to pay reviews. Considering this group has won three of the tenders for co-located hospitals, it’s financial condition is pivotal to the project. Together with the lack of bank credit for developers, the whole project has to look increasingly shaky. The HSE’s own service plan for 2009 notes that projects will only be progressed to completion phase ’subject to satisfactory banking arrangements’. The current crisis in banking does not bode well for the co-location project yet the Minister has had nothing to say on the subject.”
“Whilst co-location remains uncertain the reality for patients is that 500 existing public beds are currently closed and the Minister has rubberstamped a HSE plan to remove 600 more. The Minister is actively reducing capacity, not increasing it and the HSE are seeking a further €900 million in cutbacks for 2009. The result is her big idea is terrible news for patients meaning less isolation facilities to stop the spread of MRSA, more overcrowding in A&E, more cancelled operations and longer waiting lists.”
“The crisis in the health service continues unabated in the first two weeks of 2009 but the Minister for Health is missing in action. Many of the ongoing problems began long before the present financial crisis but while responsibility rests with this Government, leadership is absent. In December, the Minister signed off on the closure of 600 more acute beds and the slashing of €900 million from the health budget before riding off into the sunset. Instead she should be telling us how she intends to deliver long-promised reform, beginning with tackling waste and inefficiency in the back room rather than constantly hitting the front line and hurting patients.”
Well-said! Senator Fitzgerald. My thoughts exactly.
UPDATE: Sara Burke, journalist and health policy analyst, may be able to solve the Mystery of the Missing Minister for us. She believes that there is currently a stand-off going on between the HSE and the Minister. You can read Sara’s excellent analysis here.
Ireland’s first National Isolation Unit was opened yesterday by the Minister for Health, at the Mater Hospital in Dublin. The unit has 12 beds in total and will be used for patients who contract highly infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, SARS and pandemic influenza. It will also be used to treat patients with other infections including HIV, hepatitis B & C, meningitis, MRSA and malaria. This all sounds pretty good until you stop to think about it more deeply.
Firstly, I was amazed to learn that this highly specialised ’state-of-the-art’ facility with it’s own infectious diseases multidisciplinary team, is actually the firstof it’s kind in the whole country. Six of the isolation beds in this new unit will be under negative pressure to help prevent airborne transmission of infection by microscopic droplets. Two of the isolation rooms will have different air handling systems to enhance infection control. It begs the question as to what has been happening with highly infectious patients up until now? I know that some of bigger public hospitals already have isolation units which are used to hoard all the MRSA infected patients together but they do not have any specialised facilities.
And secondly, with healthcare associated infections (HCAI) such as MRSA and C. diff now endemic in Irish hospitals, it strikes me that it might make more sense to use the isolation units for the patients who are clear of HCAI’s, to keep them free from contamination?
Posted by Steph 
Posted by Steph 
Posted by Steph 
Full credit goes to the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland (CFAI) for launching a major campaign to get the Minister for Health to honour her commitment to provide isolation rooms for CF patients. However, it is still too early to celebrate this victory as the building of the unit is dependent on a ‘build now, pay later‘ funding scheme which may yet prevent it from going ahead. It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings!
