Last year saw a dramatic 11 per cent increase in male deliberate self-harm cases, the National Suicide Research Foundation has revealed. In total, 11,700 deliberate self-harm presentations involving 9,218 individuals of both genders were made to hospital emergency departments in 2008. The Annual Report of the National Registry of Deliberate Self Harm, published on July [...]
Fifty people tested positive for advanced neoplasia or cancer in the initial phase of the first comprehensive bowel cancer-screening programme in the country. The results were released on July 27 at the launch of the annual report of the Tallaght Hospital-Trinity College Dublin Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme. According to lead clinician Prof Colm O’Morain, the [...]
A co-op of 190 general practitioners has launched an initiative to provide the human papillomavirus (HPV) cervical cancer vaccine at a discount to its patients. North East Doctor on Call Ltd (NEDOC) has agreed a deal to buy the vaccine for €100 per dose – which is a reduction of €40. For a full schedule [...]
The number of new medicines authorised by the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) increased by 17 per cent in 2008, from 1,082 in 2007 to 1,268. Suspected adverse reactions were also at record levels, with the Human Medicines Department evaluating 2,742 suspected reports, compared with 1,751 in 2007. The Department processed 17,829 applications for either new [...]
Abolition of the Optical Benefit Scheme, as proposed in the Bord Snip report, would lead to an increase in blindness and visual impairment, according to the Association of Optometrists Ireland. The Association also warned that it would cause an increase in the cost to the State of treating blindness. Lynda McGivney-Nolan, the Association’s Optometric Advisor, [...]
Just 19 members of staff at the Department of Health have applied for early retirement under the Incentivised Scheme for Early Retirement (ISER). One further employee in the Office of the Ombudsman for Children — whose staff complement comes from within the overall Department of Health staffing numbers — has also applied under the scheme, [...]
The HSE anticipates that rosters compliant with the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) will be in place for virtually all NCHDs by the beginning of August. In legal correspondence from the HSE to the IMO, seen by Irish Medical Times, the Executive stressed that it was never its intention to implement the recent Labour Court [...]
The National Treatment Purchase Fund has declined to comment on a significant and potentially controversial recommendation by An Bord Snip Nua to restrict NTPF procedures to private facilities and facilities abroad. Under the recommendation, public hospitals will no longer be allowed to perform NTPF procedures. A spokesman for the NTPF said the organisation would not [...]
There has been an increase of almost 100,000 people qualifying for a medical card in the last 12 months. As of June 1, some 1,398,686 people had a medical card, an increase of 92,216 since the same date last year. Figures from the HSE also show 16,274 more medical cards were issued in the first [...]
A survey is to be conducted in the autumn to discover where HSE staff and others believe there are shortcomings in services to Travellers. The HSE’s recent health status report found Travellers’ lifespan is ten years shorter for a male and 12 years shorter for a female, compared to the settled population. The first part [...]
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