Amnesty believes discrimination on the grounds of mental health is the hidden, permissible ‘-ism’ in society, reports Aoife Connors A new mental health study carried out by Dublin City University (DCU) of more than 300 people has found that 95 per cent have experienced some level of unfair treatment because of a mental health problem. [...]
Planners cannot predict timescale
An Bord Pleanála suggets the timescale for the planning process for the new children’s hospital may be unrealistically ambitious. Aoife Connors reports There was a misunderstanding that the entire planning application process for the new national children’s hospital could be done and dusted by 2011, a spokesperson from An Bord Pleanála has told Irish Medical [...]
Numbers attending clinics to rise by 20%
With Dr Susan O’Reilly firmly in place at the National Cancer Control Programme, Gary Culliton reports on the latest breast-cancer figures It is expected that there will be a 20 per cent increase in the number of women attending clinics in the eight cancer centres this year compared with 2009, according to National Cancer Control [...]
Harney: two-year NCHD contracts are planned
Minister Mary Harney has announced that changes are to be made in order to increase Ireland’s attractiveness for overseas NCHDs, writes Gary Culliton New initiatives to attract NCHDs from overseas – involving two-year rather than six-month contracts, central recruitment and relaxing of visa restrictions – will make Ireland “more attractive and will deal with the [...]
HSE weaknesses highlighted
HSE CEO’s Cathal Magee has put forward a scathing indictment of the Executive’s accounting and reporting systems. Gary Culliton reports The HSE’s new CEO Cathal Magee has said the Executive’s accounting and reporting systems pose a “huge risk” and are a “major weakness in the governance of what is €14 billion of expenditure”. The HSE [...]
SKILL: where the money went
Gary Culliton opens up the books of the controversial SKILL programme The HSE’s internal audit of the SKILL project has unearthed a bizarre money trail, revealing how HSE funds were ultimately used to buy, for instance, business class airfares connected with the Shankill/Belfast regeneration project (€5,000) and laptops for union members (€30,000). The ‘Securing Knowledge [...]
A guide to bereavement care
HSE set to tackle issue of consultants’ insurance forms
The HSE is introducing measures to ensure that consultants sign health-insurance claim forms as quickly as they should, writes Gary Culliton The Health Service Executive is introducing incentives for consultants to sign their insurance claim forms on a timely basis, along with a major crackdown on those consultants who do not, IMT has learned. The [...]
Men’s sexual health – an overview
Education in sports and exercise medicine at NUIG
Dr Aideen Henry writes about the growing medical specialty of sports and exercise medicine and outlines the undergraduate and postgraduate study programmes in NUI Galway Sports and exercise medicine has become a rapidly growing medical specialty around the world, as it is realised that the practice of sports and exercise medicine requires the application of [...]