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Opinion: April 2007
Patients will pay price when standards slip
Dr Turlough O’Donnell, President, Irish Orthopaedic Trainees Association | 27 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, The Health Minister, Ms Harney, recently got irate at the suggestion that she was going to employ “yellow-pack” consultants on her brand new consultant contract. Indeed, the public, she continued, are being held to ransom by greedy consultants.... Read more
Highlight the mess
27 April 2007 | Editorial
Colin Kerr says consultants are ill-advised to focus on new salaries and he advises the IMO and IHCA to start winning the media debate by pointing out that the health service is a mess At the time of going to... Read more
Vast majority of patients satisfied with their doctors
Dr John Kehoe, Blessington Road, Naas, Co Kildare | 27 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, I refer to a letter from Dr Colm Quigley published in Irish Medical Times on 6 April. It appears to me that a good majority of doctors have no interest in so-called competence assurance, feeling they do not... Read more
Do not allow the HSE to impose its vision
Dr Brian Pickering, Chairman (outgoing), Anaesthetists in Training in Ireland | 27 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, As specialist doctors nearing the completion of our training we would like to express our deep disquiet at the Minister for Health’s and the HSE’s aggressive approach towards our profession. We are all on the threshold of entering... Read more
HSE's version of what a surgeon should be holds very little appeal
Dr Ronan Cahill | 27 April 2007 | Guests
The insistence of the Minister of Health and the Health Service Executive (HSE) in pressing ahead with introducing a new category of consultant into Irish hospitals means attention now focuses on who will occupy these posts. Although the issue of... Read more
Family friendly policies are needed for NCHDs
Dr Mick Molloy | 27 April 2007 | Mick Molloy
Some were not happy with the choice of venue for the IMO AGM, but Killarney does make it easy for delegates, partners and children to all be included in the activities. I don’t believe the camaraderie exhibited in Killarney would... Read more
Minister Harney must not 'ram through' proposal
Senator Brian Hayes, Fine Gael candidate, Dublin South West, Leinster House, Dublin 2 | 20 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, The decision on the new national children’s hospital should wait until after the election and Health Minister Mary Harney must scrap her plans to ram her proposal through by stealth. Minister Harney is trying to bypass the Oireachtas... Read more
Lessons to be learned
20 April 2007 | Editorial
Colin Kerr says Minister for Health Mary Harney and her Government colleagues should learn from the mistakes they have made in the nurses' dispute and come up with a plan Nobody told her it was going to be easy when... Read more
Cowley demands action for Mayo cancer patients
Dr Jerry Cowley, Independent TD, Mayo | 20 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, The Minister for Health has failed to take action on behalf of Mayo cancer patients who have to wait months for essential treatment. I asked Minister Harney to take urgent steps to ensure those patients could get Galway... Read more
Legal action planned to oppose new Act
Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill, MB., DPM., MRCPsych., Dip. Cog. Therapy, Chairman & PRO, Medical Council Membership Support Committee | 20 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, The Minister for Health’s “shotgun marriage” approach to the healthcare profession is duly noted. Conflict with the vast majority of serving healthcare professionals, which has been characterised by the utilisation of civil servants in a manner reminiscent of... Read more
Government's confrontation with nurses looks ill-advised
Dr Mick Molloy | 20 April 2007 | Mick Molloy
The world is falling down around us apparently. The nurses are on work to rule and are now the new favourite enemy of the Department of Health. This has probably saved the consultants a few column inches of vitriol but... Read more
We can't have a hospital at every crossroads
Dr Mark Hannon | 20 April 2007 | Mark Hannon
Another three months has sped by and with it the merry-go-round of SHO jobs creaks around again, with most SHOs being uprooted from positions where they might have felt vaguely comfortable and set down in another new, unfamiliar territory. However,... Read more
Failure to redraw constituencies could put election on the rocks
Kealan Flynn | 20 April 2007 | Kealan Flynn
The Government’s failure to revise the constituencies in advance of the general election, when it knew there was a problem following the publication of the preliminary census data, was always a risky strategy. The inevitable legal challenge means our political... Read more
Survival rate discrepancy
Deputy Liam Twomey, Fine Gael Spokesman for Health | 13 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, The appalling discrepancies in cancer survival rates for people living outside Dublin highlights the massive failure of Government policy in regionalising the health services and promoting cancer prevention. The significant variations in cancer survival rates across the country... Read more
Promoting health issues with appropriate images
Dr Niamh O’Brien, GP Registrar, Western Training Programme in General Practice | 13 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, I trust that you and your editorial team are aware that breastfeeding is the recommendation of all health professional associations and the published policy of the Department of Heath and Children. I was therefore disappointed to note that... Read more
Ethical aspects of co-location should be highlighted
Dr Risteárd Mulcahy, 16 the Palms, Roebuck Road, Dublin 14 | 13 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, Ms Mary Harney is to be applauded for her concern about the ethical aspects of combined pharmacies and general practitioner clinics (IMT 23 March 2007). It is difficult to understand, therefore, why she has not shown the same... Read more
Molloy's legacy
13 April 2007 | Editorial
IMT Editor Colin Kerr says Dr Mick Molloy has a lot to be proud of as he steps down as chair of the IMO NCHD committee If there are awards to be handed out for long service and dedication, one... Read more
Ireland must lead in infection prevention
Dr Teresa Graham, on behalf of MRSA and Families Network, 1 Meadowbrook, Tramore, Co Waterford | 13 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, In reaction to the publication of the HIS Prevalence Survey of Healthcare-associated Infection in UK and Irish Acute Hospitals: Irish Hospital Prevalence Rates, I would like to draw attention to the following: Although the results of this survey... Read more
It has been the best of times and the worst of times...
Dr Mick Molloy | 13 April 2007 | Mick Molloy
I have been asked by Irish Medical Times to write a little about what has happened in the last year as chair of the IMO NCHD committee. That should be relatively easy, I thought, but looking back on the year... Read more
Doctors may decide the outcome of the election
Kealan Flynn | 13 April 2007 | Kealan Flynn
With the party conference season now over, voters should be better placed to judge what the two most talked about alternative governments will do on the health issue. All parties are certainly promising more. What’s not yet clear is whether... Read more
Rigid graduate entry system can exclude the best people
Dr Mick Molloy | 06 April 2007 | Mick Molloy
An interesting article in The Irish Times recently on grade inflation said it appears that our colleges and universities are handing out more honours degrees and more first class honours degrees than ever before. Most people will not find this... Read more
Cork problems caused by lack of frontline staff
Dr Mark Hannon | 06 April 2007 | Mark Hannon
The month of March has almost passed us by and with it, not surprisingly, has come another crisis in the health service in the shape of the opening of Cork University Maternity Hospital. Although the fact that the hospital didn’t... Read more
GPs wanted for Medical Council pilot scheme
Dr Colm Quigley, Vice President of the Medical Council and Chairman of the Competence Assurance Advisory Group | 06 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, In the edition of 23 March, under the headline ‘Mistrust derails pilot’, the impression was given that the Medical Council’s pilot scheme for competence assurance was closed. This is not the case. The Medical Council is still accepting... Read more
One step at a time
06 April 2007 | Editorial
Colin Kerr says one doctor’s long walk to raise funds for patients with Multiple Sclerosis should be an inspiration to her colleagues and urges them to give generously to this worthy cause Dr Nuala O’Farrell is a dedicated general practitioner... Read more
Puzzling implications of co-location plan
Dr Patrick K Plunkett, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, St James’s Hospital, Dublin. Senior Lecturer in Emergency Medicine, Trinity College Dublin. Editor, European Journal of Emergency Medicine | 06 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, I have great difficulty understanding what will happen if, as is proposed, full economic cost is charged for all private beds in the co-located hospitals, and, presumably (as they must answer to the laws of the competitive market),... Read more
Congratulations to IMT for raising the issues of Mental Health Tribunals
Dr Brendan O’Reilly, 6 Clos Brenin, Brynsadler, Rhindda Cynon Taff, Wales | 06 April 2007 | Letters
Dear Editor, Ian McGuinness’s article ‘Mental health tribunal patients ill-served by legal representatives’ (IMT 23 March 2007) is one of those articles that is very important. People have been complaining about the costs associated with court hearings for years. It... Read more
Dr Joan O’Callaghan– An appreciation
06 April 2007 | Letters
Dr Joan O’Callaghan died in late 2006. She qualified from RCSI in 1971 and after her intern year considered her options and settled for psychiatry. It was a happy choice as her meticulous attention to detail and kindness to patients... Read more