Categories
- Editorial
- Garrett FitzGerald
- Guests
- Ilona Duffy
- Kealan Flynn
- Letter from America
- Letters
- Mark Hannon
- Mick Molloy
- The Inside Back
Archives
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
Tagcloud
abortion, admissions and discharges, alcohol, Alzheimer's disease, antibiotics, asthma, autism, bed shortages, blood, book review, breast cancer, Brendan Drumm, cancer, capacity, cardiology, cars, charity, children, CME, co-location, communications, competence assurance, consultants, cosmetic surgery, cross-border, cutbacks, Department of Health, diabetes, disability, drugs, e-health, education, elderly people, elective surgery, emergency medicine, ESRI, ethics, EWTD, exercise, falls, fitness to practice, Freedom of Information, funding, fundraising, General Election, general practice, genetics, GPs, Hanly report, health insurance, HIQA, HIV/AIDS, hospital beds, HPV, HSE, IBTS, ICGP, IHCA, IMO, industrial relations, influenza, Irish Healthcare Awards, Irish Medicines Board (IMB), IT, labs, locum, Mary Harney, maternity, ME, media, medical card, Medical Council, medical devices, medico-legal, mental health, MRSA, multiple sclerosis (MS), NCHDs, neurology, NHS, non-EU doctors, North East, Northern Ireland, NTPF, nurses, nursing homes, nutrition, obesity, obituary, organ donations, pandemic, pharmaceutical industry, pharmacists, politics, practice management, preventative healthcare, primary care, privatisation, prostate cancer, psychiatry, public health, quality and safety, RCSI, reconfiguration, recruitment, regional hospitals, research, schizophrenia, screening, sexual assault, skin cancer, smoking, spending, sport, stem cell research, STIs, stroke, suicide, surgery, training, travel, tropical medicine, tuberculosis, universal healthcare, vaccine, value for money, Vision for Change, waiting lists, whistleblowing, work-life balance
Opinion: January 2008
Laptops, palmtops, but no homepage in sight
Dr Mark Hannon | 25 January 2008 | Mark Hannon
The modern world is one of organisation and planning, and facts and figures. The age of drifting in late for an appointment, a flight or any other scheduled, routine event is long gone. The advent of Ryanair has seen to... Read more
Pensions: when is it time to rest on those laurels?
Dr Mick Molloy | 25 January 2008 | Mick Molloy
At this delicate time of the year, when people are balancing accounts in the post-Christmas period, it was at best unfortunate and at worst poorly timed to release the results of the second benchmarking body report. Hundreds of thousands were... Read more
Bed capacity and conflicting agendas
Greg Baxter | 25 January 2008 | Editorial
We have been getting three key messages from the Health Service Executive (HSE) over the last 12 months or more regarding the state of the health service. The first is that waiting lists, through local efforts and large initiatives like... Read more
Training must be fair
25 January 2008 | Editorial
Terence Cosgrave says that it is essential that principles of equity be applied to the training of NCHDs The double standard that applies with regard to the training of EU and non-EU doctors- as revealed on page 34 of this... Read more
1/3 of foster children have no social worker
Alan Shatter TD, Leinster House, Dublin 2 | 25 January 2008 | Letters
Dear Editor, A recent independent report revealed that a third of all children in foster care in the north east do not have a dedicated social worker. This report raises concerns on a number of fronts, including: the failure of... Read more
The real price of Budget value for money pledge
Kealan Flynn | 18 January 2008 | Kealan Flynn
One of the most prominent but least-reported elements in Finance Minister Brian Cowen’s Budget speech is his stated determination to insist on better value for money through improved delivery in the public services. The value for money issue rarely gets... Read more
Minister to control the Medical Council
Phelim Donnelly, MD. FRCPI, Secretary, Local Authority Medical Specialists Co. Ltd | 18 January 2008 | Letters
Dear Editor, In view of the present negotiations on review of the Consultant Common Contract, on behalf of the Local Authority Medical Specialists (LAMS), I would like to express our full support for the Irish Medical Organisation and for the... Read more
Specialised practice makes perfect sense
Dr David Buckley, The Ashe Street Clinic, Tralee, Co Kerry | 18 January 2008 | Letters
Dear Editor, I would like to comment on Dr Adam Smith’s letter to the Irish Medical Times, dated 2 November, 2007, when he stated “hopefully the new specialist registrar will also prevent non-specialists from running consultants’ clinics”. I am assuming... Read more
Thank you for your application
Dr Mick Molloy | 18 January 2008 | Mick Molloy
The debacle that was modernising medical careers in the UK, and the application process, runs on. Prepare for a flood of applicants for SHO posts here from disillusioned personnel in the UK who were unable to secure a training post... Read more
What's your opinion?
18 January 2008 | Editorial
Terence Cosgrave invites doctors to contribute to the Irish Medical Times and to the medical community The Irish Medical Times has been in existence now for over 40 years- longer than the professional life of many people. Since becoming editor... Read more
Is the pneumococcal vaccine a good idea?
Dr James Stacey, Monang, Dungarvan | 11 January 2008 | Letters
Dear Editor, I am concerned about the coming introduction of pneumococcal vaccine into the immunisation schedule for healthy children. The current vaccine for persons aged two years upward is Pneumovax II and is not recommended for healthy people. It is... Read more
A killer on the loose
11 January 2008 | Editorial
Terence Cosgrave says it's time to tackle the scourge of smoking at international level to help poor countries It’s January and a time of the year for looking back and forward. Traditionally, this is a time for resolutions, and many... Read more
Dead weight sighted on route to Oireachtas
Dr Peter Noone, Consultant Occupational Physician, Health Service Executive, Dublin North East | 11 January 2008 | Letters
Dear Editor, The Department of Health and Children (DoHC) apparently paid out €80 million to settle legal cases this year, but this figure does not include compensation paid by the Health Service Executive (HSE), which is also believed to run... Read more
Overview of our bed capacity doesn't notice actual patient
Dr Mick Molloy | 11 January 2008 | Mick Molloy
It’s 2008, a new year, a new day, a new way. A motto, a statement of purpose and, possibly, even a mission statement, but for who or what? The HSE has its own mission statement, but it's not easy to... Read more
Technology can't take the place of empathy
Dr Joyce Galbraith | 11 January 2008 | Guests
The automatic phone switchboard can be annoying enough at times, but dealing with the automatic voices used increasingly by supermarkets can be even more irritating, with their orders to "weigh your bananas" and "please take your change". The extension of... Read more
Editor replies to Stem Cell Research letters
04 January 2008 | Editorial
Far from suggesting that there shouldn’t be an ethical basis to research, I was in fact arguing the ethical basis for the continuation of stem cell research (including, if neccessary, embyronic stem cell research). There is a difference of opinion... Read more
Justice, a decade later
Terence Cosgrave | 04 January 2008 | Editorial
Terence Cosgrave says that the High Court ruling by Mr Justice Kelly last month was a case of justice delayed Doctors will have been shocked last month with the news that Mr Justice Kelly ruled in the High Court that... Read more
GPs have a role in schizophrenia care
Dr Caragh Behan, DETECT, 1 Marine Terrace, Dun Laoghaire | 04 January 2008 | Letters
Dear Editor, We were delighted by the interest shown by Irish Medical Times in the findings of our presentation at the Irish College of Psychiatrists Winter Meeting in November this year. However we were more than a little surprised by... Read more
Research- the nuclear option
Dr MG Salter, Kilmacanogue, Co. Wicklow | 04 January 2008 | Letters
Dear Editor, Terence Cosgrave seems to imply that there should be no ethical or other constraints on research. Prior to the detonation of the first atomic bomb the scientists involved calculated that there was a 3 per cent chance that... Read more
Science should always have ethical basis for research
Patrick Carr, Family and Life, 26 Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1 | 04 January 2008 | Letters
Dear Editor, Terence Cosgrave misrepresents and grossly oversimplifies the debate on stem cell research in a manner which has become commonplace in the mass media, but one which it is disappointing to see in a professional journal (‘Let science do... Read more
It's the small things that really matter, apparently
Dr Mark Hannon | 04 January 2008 | Mark Hannon
The winter weather and Christmas mayhem have hit our country with equal fury over the last few weeks. Trundling from overcrowded shop to overcrowded shop with an icy Arctic-like breeze whipping around us is the way we have spent our... Read more
Why motoring families will feel the squeeze
Dr Mick Molloy | 04 January 2008 | Mick Molloy
It takes a while for the budgetary changes to hit home and for some they will be pleasant changes. However, one could be forgiven for thinking that this is an anti-family Budget. That’s a bit strange, considering the emphasis this... Read more