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Opinion: December 2006
All they want for Christmas is...
Dr Mick Molloy | 15 December 2006 | Mick Molloy
All they want for Christmas is an intern job. Not much to ask the Minister for Health considering it has been so expensive training them in Ireland but it seems as if yet again large numbers of medical graduates are... Read more
'Tis the season to be relaxed and happy
Dr Mark Hannon | 15 December 2006 | Mark Hannon
Christmas is rapidly approaching, and with it comes worsening weather, queues, traffic, and stress levels. In hospitals around the country patients are imploring their doctors to let them leave. At the other end of the spectrum, there are elderly patients... Read more
An anxious Christmas with Mist Sedativa
Dr Joyce Galbraith | 15 December 2006 | Guests
The Christmas I will never forget and which is burned into my memory is the one I spent in my very first job after I qualified. I wanted to stay in Ireland, of course, but that was not an option... Read more
Good doctors must be protected in new law
Kealan Flynn | 15 December 2006 | Kealan Flynn
The re-election of Dr John Hillery for another term as president of the Medical Council could suggest that there may be an increasing recognition among doctors that a more robust and resilient regulatory regime is both necessary and inevitable. Some... Read more
Will this year ever end?
15 December 2006 | Editorial
Doctors all over the country will breathe a sigh of relief when 2006 draws to a close. It has been another eventful year for the health services, dominated by negotiations for new consultant and GP contracts; MRSA and hygiene standards... Read more
ICP welcomes new Budget spending
Dr Kate Ganter, Chairwoman, Irish College of Psychiatrists, 121 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2 | 15 December 2006 | Letters
Dear Editor, The Irish College of Psychiatrists has broadly welcomed the statement by Minister O’Malley, announcing additional funding of €25 million for the ongoing implementation of ‘A Vision for Change’, and including the funding of a National Service Users Council.... Read more
Hope for neurology care
Gemma Garvan, Deputy Project Manager, National Healthlink Project, 58 Eccles Street, Dublin 7 | 15 December 2006 | Letters
Dear Editor, I wish to respond to a very interesting letter by Dr Liam Twomey (IMT, 1 Dec 2006). The letter outlined the lack of neurology services available for GPs and patients in Ireland at present due to long waiting... Read more
Cigarette pack move will help young people
Eamon Rossi, Chief Executive Officer, Office of Tobacco Control, Naas, Co Kildare | 15 December 2006 | Letters
Dear Editor, The Office of Tobacco Control welcomes the announcement that from 31 May 2007 it will be illegal to sell cigarettes in packs of less than 20. The sale of confectioneries that resemble tobacco products will also become illegal... Read more
Don't be defensive
08 December 2006 | Editorial
News Editor Glenn Taylor believes doctors do not need to be defensive or tightlipped with the media about their earnings and advises a proactive approach It’s that time of year again. No, not the uniquely American celebration that is Thanksgiving... Read more
Leas Cross shows the failure of Government
Dr Liam Twomey, Fine Gael Health Spokesman, Leinster House, Dublin 2 | 08 December 2006 | Letters
Dear Editor, The horrors at Leas Cross happened, and could be happening in other nursing homes around the country, because of the failure of the Government and its agencies. The Government that failed to put in place a strong, independent... Read more
Patients continue to lose out because of lack of services
Mags Rogers, Development Manager, Neurological Alliance of Ireland, Coleraine House, Coleraine St, Dublin 7 | 08 December 2006 | Letters
Dear Editor, Irish people with neurological conditions could miss out on pioneering, new surgical treatments unless neurosurgical services in this country are improved. This was the view we in the Neurological Alliance of Ireland put forward on the recent publication... Read more
Healing with images
Dympna Bonfield, Art Psychotherapist, 40 Cregaun, Tobartaoscain, Ennis, Co Clare | 08 December 2006 | Letters
Dear Editor, Art therapy is about working through the process of image making in a therapeutic relationship. Even for the most articulate, art can be used as a kind of symbolic speech, a means of saying something non-verbally through symbols.... Read more
Some uncomfortable truths about community rating
Dr Mark Hannon | 08 December 2006 | Mark Hannon
It has certainly been an interesting couple of weeks for those of us in the medical profession with an interest in the large (and growing) public versus private healthcare divide. The Irish judicial system has, or so it seems, landed... Read more
Hospital policy raises major questions
Dr Mick Molloy | 08 December 2006 | Mick Molloy
The furore rages on. What to do with private medicine, private hospitals, private consultants, public consultants, private hospitals on public hospital sites and consultants in general? For a moment I thought that world peace must surely be hanging on the... Read more
Decision time for MRSA strategy
Kealan Flynn | 01 December 2006 | Kealan Flynn
The news that Gardai in Waterford have sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions, arising from an investigation of a complaint by a local doctor whose husband died after contracting MRSA, apparently at the city’s regional hospital, is... Read more
Acute hospital beds a good option for elderly
Dr Mick Molloy | 01 December 2006 | Mick Molloy
The debate on nursing homes, and Leas Cross in particular, looks like it will run for some time. The recent announcement that the HSE has suspended admissions to certain nursing homes has added further controversy to the debate. One would... Read more
GP training boost
01 December 2006 | Editorial
Colin Kerr says the next generation of GPs will be expected to have a greater skills set than their predecessors The Republic of Ireland Faculty of the Royal College of General Practitioners should be commended for its initiative in trying... Read more
Remembrance of things past...
Dr Charles Dupont | 01 December 2006 | Guests
I watched the recent RTÉ series Junior Doctors with interest and pondered the changes since I was an intern several decades ago. In those days we were called house officers– intern being an American term. After qualification my head was... Read more
Ruling in case of frozen embryos raises issues
Eamon O’Dwyer, Professor Emeritus, Chairman & Dr Ann Barry, Honorary Secretary, Irish Catholic Doctors’ Association | 01 December 2006 | Letters
Dear Editor, In the recent case involving three frozen embryos, Mr. Justice Brian McGovern raised the fundamental question- when does human life begin? Observing that it was not the function of the Court to adjudicate between competing moral or religious... Read more
‘Shocking’ lack of capacity for elective surgery
Dr Liam Twomey TD, Fine Gael Health Spokesman, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2 | 01 December 2006 | Letters
Dear Editor, Patients who are waiting years for neurological and neurosurgical services will take no comfort from news that once again the HSE is just one more report away from action. In many parts of the country there were effectively... Read more
Give Roscommon Hospital more work, not less
Oliver Clinton, Consultant Surgeon & Charles Byrne, Consultant Psychiatrist, Roscommon Hospital, Roscommon | 01 December 2006 | Letters
Dear Editor, A recent article in Irish Medical Times said that Health Minister Mary Harney and the HSE have expressed unease about the cost and throughput of surgical patients at Roscommon Hospital. Indeed, there seems to be a steady drip... Read more