The Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) Awareness Council (ASAC) has launched the Back in Action campaign, which introduces an algorithm for General Practitioners for the accurate and timely referral of AS patients.
Pictured at the launch were (l to r) Mr Seoirse Smith, Ankylosing Spondylitis Association of Ireland, Dr Catherine Sullivan, Specialist Registrar, St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dr Philip Carolan, President of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine, Ms Martina Fitzpatrick, Physiotherapy Clinical Specialist in Rheumatology.
Other members are: Professor Oliver FitzGerald, Consultant Rheumatologist, St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dr Donncha O’Gradaigh, Consultant Rheumatologist, Waterford Regional Hospital, Dr Conor McCarthy, Consultant Rheumatologist, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dr Eanna Falvey, Director of Sports and Exercise Medicine, Sports Surgery Clinic, Dr Patrick Davern, General Practitioner, Tipperary and Dr Jeremiah O’Flynn, General Practitioner, Westmeath.
This campaign is supported by Abbott.

Speech by President Kieran Murphy
Official Launch of Part 11 by Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney TD
31st May 2010
Minister and Honoured Guests,
I would first like to echo Marcus’ welcome to the Minister on her second visit to Kingram House. I also want to thank all of you for taking the time out to join us here today at the official launch of Part 11 of the 2007 Medical Practitioners Act.
The Medical Council welcomes the commencement of Part 11 which sees the introduction of a statutory requirement for the maintenance of professional competence.
Our responsibility at the Medical Council is to better protect patients by ensuring that doctors are competent, act professionally and are accountable to their patients.The commencement of Part 11 will greatly assist us in fulfilling that responsibility more effectively.
It is an important milestone for the medical profession and an important milestone for enhancing patient safety.
It will ensure that all doctors are helped to maintain and develop their knowledge and skills during the course of their professional lives and will help ensure that patients are getting the highest possible standards and quality of care.
Good medical practice is based on a relationship of trust between doctors and society and involves a partnership between patient and doctor that is based on mutual respect, confidentiality, honesty, responsibility and accountablility. Statutory professional competence will increase patient’s confidence in their doctor’s expertise and enhance the trust underlying the patient-doctor relationship. The additional quality assurance that this process brings to the patient-doctor relationship is a further protection to ensure the safety of patients
Of course, it has to be acknowledged that the majority of doctors have maintained their professional competence on a voluntary basis for many years. The Act merely formalises that process for those doctors.
I would like to welcome Dr Paul Kavanagh to the team here at the Medical Council. Paul is about to join us as our Head of Professional Competence. He brings with him a wealth of experience which we are certain will help us ensure that we roll out the new programmes efficiently and effectively.
Arriving at the stage of formally launching Part 11 has involved many years of work on the part of the Professional Competence Section here at the Council and I want to particularly thank Fergal McNally and Jan Fitzpatrick. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Professor Paul Finucane, Chair of the Professional Competence Working Group and Ann Maher, Chair of the Professional Competence Steering Committee.
I would also like to express our sincere gratitude for the support and cooperation of the training bodies and to the many doctors who have already aligned themselves to a training body for the purposes of professional competence.
Following consultation with all of the relevant parties I believe that we will have a programme in place that will deliver the highest possible standards of continuing professional development without placing inordinate demands on doctors.
At the launch of our new premises by the Minister here last November, we talked about it being a building that was “fit for purpose” in terms of meeting the needs of a modern organization focussed on meeting the expectations of a contemporary society
I am happy today that we have legislation and a system of quality assurance that is also “fit for purpose” in terms of enhancing patient safety and the quality of patient care.
It will ensure that patients have access to the highest possible standards of care. Ultimately that is why we are here, that is the responsibility of the Council and that is the spirit of the legislation.
Thank you.
Professor Kieran Murphy
President of the Medical Council
Photo: Mr Marcus Balfe (Acting CEO), Minister Harney, Professor Kieran Murphy (President) and Anna Clarke (Vice-President)

You can download the registration form for the Cork GP Seminar here: part of IMT’s hugely successful “Managing a Successful Practice” series.
Some info:
Venue: River Lee Hotel (formerly Jury’s), Western Road, Cork
Date: Saturday, May 15, 2010 Places are limited for this exclusive event. If you wish to attend, please complete the Registration Form on this page, indicating your preferred method of payment
Seminar Fee: €90, which includes lunch and refreshments CME: ICGP accreditation is confirmed, which qualifies for 1 CME session and 4.5 CAS credits for external CME Confirmations: All payments will be confirmed by invoice
Cancellations: Refunds are not available, but places are transferable Accommodation: For accommodation, please contact the hotel directly on (01) 667 2200 Please send your completed registration form with
payment to:
Irish Medical Times,
Practice Management Seminar,
24-26 Upper Ormond Quay,
Dublin 7.
For further information or to book with a credit card, please contact Dylan Conway
on (01) 817 6330 or email dylan.conway@imt.ie.

Deirdre Mangaoang has been appointed new Press Officer with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Doctors Without Borders Ireland.
MSF is an international medical humanitarian organisation that provides medical relief to victims of war and disaster during disease outbreaks.
For the past seven years Mangaoang has worked for MSF Ireland as Active Recruitment Officer before embarking on two MSF field missions, in Myanmar and recently in South Sudan.
Mangaoang will replace Heather Pagano Whelan, who takes up the position as Press Officer with MSF UK based in London.
The MSF Ireland Communications department provide a media service for journalists that connects Irish media with international and national staff.
MSF provide information about MSF’s emergency medical work on the ground in over 70 countries worldwide.

Personal, untold stories of loved ones lost to suicide have been captured in a unique collaborative project, led by Prof Kevin Malone, Consultant Psychiatrist at St Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin and Artist, and UCD Ad Astra PhD Scholar in Suicide Studies, Mr Seamus McGuinness.
The project is the result of conversations and research interviews with 104 suicide-bereaved families from all over Ireland over the past four years with a focus on younger suicide deaths.
The methods combine scientific research and visual arts practice in search of new knowledge and understanding through a unique collaboration with families bereaved by suicide. In essence, this project, the first of its kind internationally, having its first public presentation, unites science, arts and humanities reflecting the lived life as well as the impact of loss on society through suicide.
Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
Public Meeting on Suicide in Ireland: A Conversation and Journey through Loss with Science and Arts
Friday, April 30 and Saturday, May 1, 2010
Venue: RCPI, No 6 Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Download full programme here.

Irish Medical Times has published an IMO agm supplement in this week’s paper: editorials, opinion, analysis, and open letters written by IMO officers. Find out what this year’s most important issues are:
True colours of the health service
An interview with IMO CEO George McNeice
An opportunity out of chaos
IMO President Dr John Morris uses this year’s IMT IMO Annual General Meeting supplement to send an open letter to the Minister for Health Mary Harney
Living up to consultants’ contract
Prof Seán Tierney, consultant surgeon and incoming IMO President, and Eric Young, IMO Senior Industrial Relations Executive, believe many of the objects of the new consultant contract are more aspiration than reality
Primary care at zebra crossing in reform process
As doctors head to another AGM of the IMO at Easter, GP and IMO Honorary Treasurer Dr Michael Mehigan looks back on the past year and ponders on what’s in store for GPs in 2010 and beyond
Restructuring in public health
Dr Paula Gilvarry, Chairperson of the IMO Public Health Committee and former president, believes it has been both a busy and disappointing year for public health and community medical doctors
A solid base for future of NCHDs
Whenever ‘Irish NCHDs — A History’ is finally written, 2009 will be marked down as a momentous year, writes NCHD Committee Chairman Dr Matthew Sadlier

Tallaght Hospital has seven consultant radiologists, and it should have 18, the IHCA has stated in a response to the story about tens of thousands of X-rays at Tallaght not being reviewed by consultant radiologists.
The IHCA has also stated that the HSE, which is ultimately responsible for funding public hospitals, should not be leading a review of this matter.
From the IHCA press release:

The IHCA shares the concerns of those adult patients whose diagnosis was delayed over the past four years in Tallaght Hospital. The Association understands that there have been no delays in the reporting of children’s X-Rays.
It is important to note that Tallaght is the second busiest of the Dublin Teaching Hospitals. It had just seven (6.5 Wholetime Equivalent) Consultant Radiologists, which is much less than any of the other teaching hospitals. The accepted and recommended standard is that Tallaght should have eighteen Consultant Radiologists for the volume of work it is required to deliver.
The Consultant Radiologists, both individually and collectively, brought the growing delay in reporting X-rays to the attention of hospital management over the past number of years. In excess of forty letters were written to Hospital management about this matter by the Radiologists.
The Health Service Executive has responsibility for adequately funding our public hospitals. It is also responsible for deciding on staffing levels, particularly at Consultant level. It also receives monthly details of the activity in each of our public hospitals.
Given its own responsibilities in this matter, the IHCA does not believe that the HSE is the appropriate agency to review the history of this unfortunate development.

In its Submission to the Public Accounts Committee On Public & Private Medical Practice, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association states:
1. The information currently provided by the HSE does not accurately reflect the clinical activity of Hospital Consultants as significant parts of their activity are not recorded or analysed.
2. It is the patients themselves who determine whether they are to be treated in a public or private capacity.
3. There is incontrovertible evidence that the reports currently in circulation are inaccurate.
4. Due to the present fiscal difficulties there is growing pressure on hospital managers to maximise the income to hospitals that is generated from private patients. This will support the maintenance of services to public patients that would otherwise have to be curtailed.
Read the entire submission (pdf)

Beaumont doctors say the “travesty” of sending three organs to the UK was a result of bed shortages. Beaumont Hospital says the problem is not bed capacity per se, but a temporary reconfiguration of beds at the transplant unit as a result of building works.
The story, as the Irish Times has reported, is this:

On January 26th last, four kidneys and one pancreas became available for transplant. Two of the kidneys were used for paediatric transplants in Temple Street Children’s Hospital while the remaining organs were sent to the UK Transplant Service despite long waiting lists in the Republic.

Dr David Hickey, the consultant surgeon who made the decision to send the organs abroad said: “My colleagues and I met on the topic and decided that we could not safely bend our standards and we had to send the kidneys abroad. We need a significant increase in the number of beds.”
The hospital rejected the implication that this was a bed capacity issue “per se.” Instead, building works had created a temporary shortage.
“This means that the beds used for patients immediately post operatively are currently in a different location to the main ward to ensure their safety and that has issues for provision of nursing by the highly trained specialist staff,” the hospital said in a statement.
From the Irish Times: “There are 580 patients currently awaiting kidney transplant and 25 awaiting a pancreas. The average waiting time for a kidney is just under three years and the average waiting time for a pancreas is nine months.”

The Jigsaw Galway Community Cycle will take place on Saturday, April 10, 2010. Jigsaw Galway is a partnership between Headstrong (The National Centre for Youth Mental Health), the HSE and Mental Health Ireland. You can contact Jigsaw Galway on (091) 549 252.
From the press release:
In support of the event, players from the Galway football, hurling, Ladies football, camogie and Connacht rugby teams will race against each other. Each route will merge into Eyre Square, and the day will culminate in a host of activities and entertainment for young and old when the cyclists arrive back into the centre of Galway City.
Suicide is the most common cause of death in young people, and during the first quarter of last year, we saw a 33 per cent increase in the number of suicides in Ireland. Jigsaw Galway is part of a national programme which aims to provide more accessible and responsive services to young people aged 15-25 with emerging mental health difficulties. Its Mary Street location in the centre of Galway City serves as a drop-in and referral centre ensuring that when young people experiencing difficulties seek help, they obtain an immediate response from a professional who listens to them, determines what level of assistance they require and helps to access the support they need.