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Opinion: March 2007

Irish peace dividend boosts healthcare co-operation

Kealan Flynn | 30 March 2007 | Kealan Flynn

We’ve had peace on this island for so long now that it’s hard to imagine a return to the murder and mayhem that blighted all our lives and tarnished our nation’s reputation for three decades. As Sinn Fein and the... Read more

Hospital developers jittery about new government

Dr Mick Molloy | 30 March 2007 | Mick Molloy

If I were a developer of a co-located hospital, I would be worried at present. With a general election looming, veiled threats are being issued by the opposition about plans for co-located facilities to the point that we cannot be... Read more

Accuracy of infections survey questioned

Gerard O’Callaghan, Chief Executive, South Infirmary–Victoria University Hospital | 30 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, I wish to highlight the South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital’s concerns in relation to the findings of the Third Prevalence Survey of Healthcare Associated Infections in Acute Hospitals which was issued by the Health Service Executive (HSE). I now... Read more

Pensions for GPs are extremely inadequate

Dr Robt P Gill & Dr Harry Leahy, Limerick, Dr Sean Gormley, Ballina, Co Mayo | 30 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, Can I, on behalf of the GP National Pensions Lobby, thank the very many GPs who responded to our letter canvassing support from all parts of Ireland. We also wish to thank all those who sent messages of... Read more

'Bureacratic quagmire' in transferring sick patients to hospital

Dr Joe Clarke, General Practitioner, Summerhill Medical Centre, Summerhill, Co Meath | 30 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, I am writing to alert doctors of problems I have encountered with the new Mental Health Act. Recently, I was called out to a patient who needed to be admitted involuntarily because of an acute psychiatric disorder. His... Read more

Is co-location wise?

30 March 2007 | Editorial

Colin Kerr expects questions about Minister Harney’s co-location plan will be increasingly raised by doctors and other voters as the general election draws nearer The Minister for Health, Mary Harney, has argued that co-location will improve services for all patients,... Read more

Thumbs down for healthcare players

Dr Gerard Crotty, St James’s Hospital | 30 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, We consultants are very fortunate to have our own Dreamgirls- the IHCA and IMO presidents! However, The Queen doesn’t want to negotiate seriously with us, preferring public castigation- Little Miss Sunshine she is not.... Read more

Beware of computer meltdown in job hunt

Dr Mick Molloy | 23 March 2007 | Mick Molloy

Meltdown is a term we normally associate with the nuclear industry, or breakfast croissants and melted cheese. It is not a term one would normally associate with medical recruitment in the UK. Modernising medical careers, or ‘MMC’ as it is... Read more

Sometimes doing your job may mean not doing it

Dr Illona Duffy | 23 March 2007 | Guests

For any of you who attend the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) Continuing Medical Education (CME) meetings you may well have attended one entitled ‘Critical Case Analysis’. For the uninitiated, a critical case is defined as one that affects... Read more

Administrators should put their own house in order first

Dr Mark Hannon | 23 March 2007 | Mark Hannon

It seems that much media coverage over the last two to three weeks has focused on the length of the health service working week — nursing unions threatening industrial action over their claims for a 35-hour week; painstaking negotiation on... Read more

HSE and Minister too quick to blame someone else

Dr Conor McGrane, Bracken Clinic, 12a Dublin Street, Balbriggan, Co Dublin | 23 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, Recent pronouncements from the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Minister for Health have claimed that the main cause of MRSA is over prescribing of antibiotics by GPs. It has been suggested that more education and even retraining... Read more

Clarification: 23 March 2007

23 March 2007 | Editorial

In our 9 March issue we carried a story headlined ‘Irish Cancer Society chief moves to MRCG’. We would like to clarify that while Mr John McCormack has taken up the honorary position of Chairman of the Medical Research Charities... Read more

Listen to doctors

23 March 2007 | Editorial

Colin Kerr says part of the debate about the future of the health service must centre on the changing job profiles of doctors and other healthcare professionals When will Irish doctors stop whinging and start doing what they are paid... Read more

Bill is a disgrace in a modern democracy

Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill, Chairman and PRO, Medical Council Membership Support Committee | 23 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, The Medical Council has issued a statement that outlined two main points in the recent contact between the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, and the Council’s President and its Registrar. The first point is that the definition of... Read more

Correction: 23 March 2007

23 March 2007 | Editorial

In Irish Medical Times (2 March 2007) Killarney GP Dr Maria Stack was incorrectly named Dr Maura Stack in a caption of a photo on page 48. IMT apologises for this production error.... Read more

A&E overcrowding is causing cancellations

Mr Ronald Grainger, Consultant Urological Surgeon, Adelaide Meath Hospital Tallaght and St James’s, Hospital, Dublin | 23 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, It was with incredulity that I read your report (IMT, 9 March 2007) of Prof Drumm’s comments to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee stating that cancelled elective surgeries were not linked to emergency department overcrowding. I can state... Read more

Right of reply is key

Tadhg Daly, Chief Executive, Irish Nursing Homes Organisation, Dublin 12 | 16 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, As is widely known, the Irish Nursing Homes Organisation fully supports the expansion and enhancement of the current inspection regime concerning nursing homes. However, the current HSE inspection system is totally unfair and deprives nursing home proprietors of... Read more

Swept under the carpet

16 March 2007 | Editorial

Glenn Taylor is perturbed that an advertisement highlighting the problems facing women was banned in Ireland as the country and the world marked International Women’s Day Late last week, International Women’s Day was celebrated ((or commemorated, depending on your view)... Read more

Relationship of doctor and patient paramount

Dr Mick Molloy | 16 March 2007 | Mick Molloy

Contracts can be confusing. Sometimes I wonder if they are deliberately written obscurely to ensure that what is being offered as part of a contract is so hidden in the morass that it will rarely be asked for or understood... Read more

Is Minister Harney building a legacy to stand test of time?

Kealan Flynn | 16 March 2007 | Kealan Flynn

Ministers are generally careful when picking their fights and are always mindful of their political ‘legacy’. While political opponents will often ridicule Government initiatives in simplistic, black-and-white terms, Ministers themselves are notoriously reluctant to run with any new initiative without... Read more

Food advertisers and Government are also to blame

Dr Angela Jordan, Specialist Registrar in Public Health, The Institute of Public Health in Ireland | 16 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, The increasing problem of childhood obesity has been occupying many column inches in the media. The emphasis has been on the role of the family and health services in tackling this epidemic. Responsibility and the power to address... Read more

Beware of too much power for Minister

Dr Mary O’Carroll, Letterkenny, Co Donegal | 16 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, I am very concerned about the contents of the Medical Practitioners Bill that is now being debated in the Dáil. The powers, which will be vested in the Minister for Health if this Bill is passed as drafted... Read more

All for one, free for all

09 March 2007 | Editorial

Colin Kerr says a major cultural shift is needed in the Irish health service so that instead of making it difficult for people to retrieve their records, all documents should be freely available People with ‘compulsive hoarding syndrome’ may have... Read more

Blaming doctors has become choice option of Ministers

Dr Mary Gray, Corbally Clinic Medical Centre, Corbally Road, Limerick | 09 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, The proposed public hearings of the Medical Council’s Fitness to Practise Committee are detrimental to good medical practice. The development of safe systems of practice depend on practitioner confidence in error reporting, leading to good risk management. Error... Read more

Rage against new Bill

Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill, Chairman and PRO, Medical Council Membership Support Committee, Sallins, Co Kildare | 09 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, Judging by the number of contacts I have recently received, panic is fast spreading among the profession in relation to the looming Medical Practitioners Bill. While the various opposition spokespeople are expressing reservations about aspects of the Bill,... Read more

Bringing hospital supplies to the developing world

Tessa Palokkaran, fifth-year medical student, NUI Galway | 09 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, I am writing to you on behalf of the Voluntary Services Abroad (VSA), a NUI Galway-based charity run by medical students, which fundraises every year to enable fifth-year medical students to bring supplies to hospitals in the developing... Read more

Young doctors may often need a shoulder to cry on

Dr Mark Hannon | 09 March 2007 | Mark Hannon

I am sure that most of us are happy to see that the month of March is upon us. Although February is the shortest month of the year, at times it seems interminable, as black cold windy nights give way... Read more

Like gyms, Ireland's bogs and farms are healthy places

Dr Mick Molloy | 09 March 2007 | Mick Molloy

Having kids who wake up exceptionally early means that I occasionally get to watch breakfast television shows. I was pleasantly surprised recently to see a feature on a gym which had introduced special programmes for young children. The facility, based... Read more

A route to containing costs while saving lives

Kealan Flynn | 02 March 2007 | Kealan Flynn

As I write this piece, Reuters is reporting that Merck has reviewed its campaign to have innoculation against cervical cancer made mandatory for young school girls in the United States. In Ireland, it looks as though the Department of Health... Read more

Beyond white coats and stethoscopes

Dr Mike Power | 02 March 2007 | Guests

A junior houseman I once saw for therapy presented with significant anxiety-related symptoms. With working-class origins, he was regularly seized with severe panic attacks when lunching in the hospital cafeteria. Matters reached a crisis when he dropped a full tray,... Read more

Drinks can be spiked — with alcohol not drugs

Dr Mick Molloy | 02 March 2007 | Mick Molloy

“Doctor, my drink was spiked.” How many times have you heard it? If truth be told the majority of those who make such a claim are correct — their drink has been spiked, but generally with more drink! But, seriously,... Read more

Correction: 2 March 2007

02 March 2007 | Editorial

In Irish Medical Times 16 February, we published an article on metabolic syndrome by Dr Mary Ryan, consultant physician and endroconologist at Barringtons and Aut Even hospitals. Due to an error, the photograph accompanying the article was of Dr Mary... Read more

Ireland should be TB free

02 March 2007 | Editorial

Colin Kerr says the elimination of tuberculosis, which led to thousands of deaths in Ireland in the last century, should be a priority for the Government, policy makers and doctors In two weeks time, the Minister for Health, Mary Harney,... Read more

Government must ban the smoking of cigarettes in cars

Prof Luke Clancy, Chairman ASH Ireland, Northumberland Road, | 02 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, ASH Ireland is calling on the Government to introduce a smoking ban in all motor vehicles in the best interest of health and road safety. The workplace smoking legislation introduced in 2004 did not restrict smoking in private... Read more

A blow-in from the UK gets the cold shoulder from hospitals in Cork

Dr Jeff Featherstone, Trieneens, Ring, Clonakility, Co Cork | 02 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, My experience as a new blow-in to West Cork are that it is well-nigh impossible to get a part-time hospital post when working as a GP, despite obvious problems in this sector. I moved from the UK to... Read more

Be careful about terms for older and wiser people

Dr Dermot Walsh, 5 Burleigh Court, Dublin 4 | 02 March 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, In a recent contribution to the British Medical Journal (10 February), Dr Falconer and Prof O’Neill of the Department of Gerontology of Trinity and of Tallaght Hospital raise the issue of how older people like to be referred... Read more