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: October 2008

Back her — or sack her

Terence Cosgrave | 31 October 2008 | Editorial

Terence Cosgrave says that with no backing from the Government, Mary Harney's fate as Health Minister is sealed. Is there any point now in Minister Mary Harney continuing? There had been a reasonable argument put forward heretofore that Harney had... Read more

Dealing with the media interview

Rory Hafford | 31 October 2008 | Guests

Rory Hafford gives us a step-by-step guide to managing potentially difficult interviews with members of the media. A few years ago, I was in Monaco for the World Vaccination Conference. It was the same day that the Andrew Wakefield MMR... Read more

Dr Helen McNamee remembered

Dr Helen McNamee | 29 October 2008 | Guests

Dr Helen McNamee passed away in April of this year. She will be remembered by many for the contribution she made to the health and happiness of colleagues and patients . We owe a lot to the William Stokes Faculty... Read more

'Double punishment' under current rules

Dr M. Bhamjee | 29 October 2008 | Letters

A doctor can be reported to the Council for misconduct in violation of traffic rules e.g. parking fines, speeding or any other civil issue not related to medical practice. These civil offences should not be seen as misconduct as they... Read more

GPs need sustainable practices to treat patients

29 October 2008 | Letters

The following is a copy of a letter sent last Thursday to Mr Eddie Sullivan of the Department of Health and Children, in relation to capitation payment for people over 70 in the GMS: Dear Mr Sullivan, I am writing... Read more

Terms of new Coroners Bill

Ann Brizzell | 29 October 2008 | Guests

Ann Brizzell, Solicitor with Beauchamps Solicitors, reports on the terms of the Coroners Bill 2007, which will consolidate and extend the law relating to coroners. Currently, under the Coroners Act 1962 (1962 Act), all sudden, unexplained, violent and unnatural deaths... Read more

Report tackles ED overcrowding

Greg Baxter | 29 October 2008 | Guests

Greg Baxter looks at the suggestions to ease emergency department overcrowding from a report by the American College of Emergency Physicians. Last spring, the American College of Emergency Physicians published a task force report on emergency department (ED) overcrowding, and... Read more

Study links doctor visits with screening

29 October 2008 | Guests

New research has shown that patients who always attend the same primary care physician receive better care when it comes to cancer. The study, which was published in Archives of Internal Medicine, evaluated the medical records of nearly 2,000 state... Read more

Why can't we just keep the system simple?

Dr Paul Heslin | 29 October 2008 | Guests

Dr Paul Heslin writes that the stresses of working within the Irish medical system can mean that it is often the doctors who need treatment. Okay, so I am renovating the surgery and the resulting confusion may be the reason... Read more

Written contracts still elusive for new GPs

Dara Gantly | 29 October 2008 | Guests

Special correspondent Dara Gantly concludes his two-part analysis of the hurdles facing doctors establishing their careers in general practice. Improving your lot as an establishing GP would be a difficult task if all one could do was work the current... Read more

Care worker was verbally abusive to elderly resident

Ed Madden | 29 October 2008 | Guests

Ed Madden, BL, looks at a UK case in which a care home appealed against a decision of an employment tribunal that its decision to dismiss a support worker at the home was unfair. Ms D. E. Smith was employed... Read more

The crucifixion of Willie O’Dea and other observations

29 October 2008 | The Inside Back

The world record for the longest conversation held between two or more people speaking at the same time while wagging fingers at each other was broken on RTE’s Questions and Answers last week. The conversation was held between Willie O’Dea... Read more

The war on germs — it starts with your humble toaster

Dr Mark Hannon | 28 October 2008 | Mark Hannon

Dr Mark Hannon says that there is much more to hospital hygiene than targeting doctors' ties and toasters. Now that we have felt the inevitable pain of Brian Lenihan’s first Budget and know what is in store for our wage... Read more

So where have all the women doctors gone?

Dr Garett FitzGerald | 28 October 2008 | Garrett FitzGerald

Dr Garett FitzGerald wonders where all the female doctors have disappeared to these days, especially considering that almost 60 per cent of medical graduates are female. All you bright young female docs, please phone home. Where are you at all?... Read more

Blaming others won't help Cowen with over-70s

Terence Cosgrave | 28 October 2008 | Editorial

Terence Cosgrave says that the attempts of the Government to find a scapegoat for its decision to abolish the over-70s' automatic entitlement to a medical card will not change the fact that it will have to reverse its decision. As... Read more

ECT treatment is right in some cases

Brian O'Shea | 28 October 2008 | Letters

Dear Sir, Dr Michael Corry (IMT, October 17, page 40, www.imt.ie/clinical/mental-health-cns/ect-debate-continues-in-the-se-1.html) continues to wage war on ECT. His crusade against the so-called ‘medical model’ (now subsumed under the broader ‘bio-psycho-social’ approach of modern psychiatry) goes back many years. Some readers... Read more

Budget focus on charges and cutbacks

Gary Culliton | 28 October 2008 | Guests

Next year, the private sector will begin construction of 200 primary care centres across the country, on behalf of the HSE, Health Minister Harney said on Budget day. This will involve investment of €1.5 billion. A total of 50 of... Read more

Medical card row could poison FF's community roots

Kealan Flynn | 28 October 2008 | Kealan Flynn

It has come to something when a highly successful political machine threatens to seize up completely in the face of an entirely predictable backlash from a Budget decision to end the automatic entitlement of people over 70 to a full... Read more

Medical Miscellany

Terence Cosgrave | 24 October 2008 | Guests

There was palpable anger from many doctors at the Rural, Island and Dispensing Doctors’ conference, which took place last weekend, at the decision to withdraw the medical card for the over-70s. But then, others were more phlegmatic about the issue... Read more

How to manage a crisis!

Rory Hafford | 21 October 2008 | Guests

Rory Hafford continues his Medical Communications series with a look at an evidence-based approach to crisis management. Turn on any radio station, or flick through the pages of any newspaper and you are sure to find it... the daily attack... Read more

Written contracts still remain elusive for establishing GPs

Dara Gantly | 21 October 2008 | Guests

Special correspondent Dara Gantly begins a two-part analysis of the pressing concerns facing doctors establishing their careers in general practice. They may not seem the archetypal Young Turks eager for fundamental change in the established order, but establishing GPs do... Read more

Medical Miscellany

Terence Cosgrave | 21 October 2008 | Guests

Welcome to the first ‘Medical Miscellany’ column — a collection of medicine-related bits and bobs that won’t fit anywhere else. I am constantly being sent pictures, jokes and anecdotes which, although very amusing and perhaps even interesting, often fail to... Read more

Rural doctors travel to Barna for 23rd annual general meeting

20 October 2008 | Guests

This year’s Rural Doctors conference takes place against the background of a Budget that is expected to make cuts in services right across the board — both in health and other areas which are essential for the welfare of... Read more

Rural doctors meeting is a must for Irish GPs

Dr Pat Harold | 20 October 2008 | Guests

Dr Pat Harold profiles the 'splendidly named' Rural, Island and Dispensing Doctors annual conference. Among the many invitations to meetings that I get every autumn there is one in particular that lifts my heart. That is the invite to the... Read more

Majority reject new union proposal

Dan Danaher | 19 October 2008 | Guests

Dan Danaher reports from the AGM of Overseas Medics of Ireland, where a majority of delegates rejected a proposal to establish a new trade union to represent overseas doctors working in Ireland. The proposed establishment of a new trade union... Read more

No models found for modern medicine

Greg Baxter | 18 October 2008 | Guests

Greg Baxter reports on a new study which concludes that there is no model of best practice when it comes to delivering access, value and quality in healthcare. Everywhere in the world, developed countries are struggling to cope with ways... Read more

Let us further delineate the problem of fancy talk

G.B. | 17 October 2008 | Guests

After excoriating celebrities, journalists, and your-average-man-on-the-street in last week’s Inside Back, for confusing words and phrases in an effort to look smart, in the last 24 hours I’ve made two of the most embarrassing (verbal) mistakes in recent memory. The... Read more

Doctor who assaulted his wife was suspended

Ed Madden | 16 October 2008 | Guests

Ed Madden, BL, looks at a recent General Medical Council decision in which a doctor who was convicted of assaulting his wife was suspended from the Medical Register for three months. On July 31, 2007, at Norwich Magistrates’ Court, Dr... Read more

Stand by your plans when it comes to making decisions

Dr John Ryan | 15 October 2008 | Letter from America

Dr John Ryan finds that when it comes to treating patients, the buck stops with him now that he is attending on wards and realises that real confidence will come with experience. Two weeks ago, I started attending on the... Read more

CVD risk data analysed in IT platform

Helix Health | 15 October 2008 | Guests

An EU-funded project has developed an IT platform to combine clinical, laboratory and metabolic information with genomic data. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) claims the lives of 17 million lives globally every year, according to the World Health Organization, and yet doctors... Read more

No room left in the centre for vote-hungry politicians

Dr Mark Hannon | 15 October 2008 | Guests

Dr Mark Hannon writes that in these troubling economic times what is required of democracies are leaders who are prepared to make the hard decisions. These are testing times. Economic turmoil, falling tax revenues, cuts in government expenditure, and collapsing... Read more

Can Budget cutbacks improve our health?

Terence Cosgrave | 14 October 2008 | Editorial

Terence Cosgrave wonders if the current financial constraints can really be an opportunity to drive reform in the health service, seeing as all the money in the Celtic Tiger's coffers could not solve the problems in the healthcare system. By... Read more

Consulting with Clinical Directors

Gary Culliton | 14 October 2008 | Guests

Gary Culliton reports on how the breakdown between public and private work by consultants will be measured and also on how the clinical directorates are expected to function. Hospitals will commence reporting on the amount of private work done by... Read more

Sarah Palin's master plan for the HSE

Dr Garrett FitzGerald | 14 October 2008 | Garrett FitzGerald

Dr Garett FitzGerald takes a call from Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah (Mooseburger) Palin and talks her out of running the HSE. Sarah Palin has been invited to head up the HSE, if she doggone don’t make it in November. I... Read more

Financial meltdown: get your popcorn

13 October 2008 | The Inside Back

Just after the US House of Representatives voted to reject a $700 billion bailout plan, a Republican lawmaker (flanked by other Republican lawmakers) blamed the speech by the House Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi (a Democrat), which he suggested was partisan,... Read more

Can anything kick-start consultant expansion?

Mick Molloy | 12 October 2008 | Mick Molloy

The financial turmoil that has all our politicians ‘working as if they were junior doctors again’, to paraphrase one Senator, is likely to have far-reaching consequences with respect to the health sector in our economy. As the Senator explained, he... Read more

Supporting the future of pharma

John Kiernan | 11 October 2008 | Guests

John Kiernan, Managing Director of Innovex and Quintiles, explains how the pharmaceutical industry is helping to educate patients in the management of their own health and wellbeing. In these straitened times, the pharmaceutical industry is, according to Innovex Managing Director... Read more

The pain-relieving power of beauty

10 October 2008 | Guests

New research suggests that beautiful art is a natural painkiller and that hospitals should make a bigger effort to beautify patients' surroundings. Beauty is truth, wrote John Keats – and according to scientific research, it is also a natural painkiller.... Read more

Supporting the future of pharma

John Kiernan | 10 October 2008 | Guests

John Kiernan, Managing Director of Innovex and Quintiles, explains how the pharmaceutical industry is helping to educate patients in the management of their own health and wellbeing. In these straitened times, the pharmaceutical industry is, according to Innovex Managing Director... Read more

High Court's ruling will not affect drive to cut drug costs

10 October 2008 | Kealan Flynn

Kealan Flynn says the recent 'Hickey Case' clarifies that ministerial responsibility exists, and that the judgment will only delay the new pricing regime for prescription drugs, not derail it. Although many pharmacies have taken some comfort from the recent High... Read more

Pensions rights for employees

Dairine Walsh | 09 October 2008 | Guests

Dairine Walsh, Solicitor with Beauchamps Solicitors, outlines employers' obligations to their staff regarding pension schemes, as defined under the Pensions Act of 1990. For many years, there has been concern in Ireland over the level of pension coverage, as only... Read more

Why nobody takes the fall for mistakes

Dr John Ryan | 09 October 2008 | Letter from America

Dr John Ryan writes about the similarities between healthcare crises and financial crises, where nobody is willing to step forward and take responsibility for errors made. Last Wednesday marked the finals of America’s Got Talent. This is a poor man’s... Read more

Will crunch mean cuts in care?

Greg Baxter | 08 October 2008 | Guests

Greg Baxter spoke to Vincent Barton, MD of Prospectus, about the menacing effect that an economic downturn could have on healthcare. Consulting firms are easy targets for criticism during times of a budgetary crunch, probably because they seem to do... Read more

Breaking the barriers to proper healthcare

Ian McGuinness | 08 October 2008 | Guests

Ian McGuinness speaks to Dublin GP, Dr Austin O'Carroll, about the barriers preventing socially excluded patients from gaining proper access to the healthcare system. Homeless people, drug users and asylum seekers are among the socially excluded patients treated by Dr... Read more

Health cuts draw blood

Terence Cosgrave | 07 October 2008 | Editorial

Terence Cosgrave writes that despite promises from politicians, patients will be affected by health cutbacks. The Irish Hospital Consultants Association’s annual general meeting, which was held last weekend in Cork, took place against the background of a bleak outlook for... Read more

HSE has turned its back on the elderly

Emer O’Byrne | 07 October 2008 | Editorial

Dear Editor, On Friday morning last, I booked 22 patients into my Monday morning flu vaccine clinic. Some of these patients come into the 50-65 age group, as we had been informed by the Health Service Executive (HSE) that this... Read more

Scotland takes the e-health initiative

Helix Health | 06 October 2008 | Guests

Two e-health projects in Scotland are using the latest technology to improve patient health and services. A number of projects in Scotland are using e-health in order to streamline services and improve the care given to patients.... Read more

Uses of human stem cells

Gary Culliton | 06 October 2008 | Guests

Gary Culliton previews a forthcoming international symposium on the potential of human pluripotent stem cells, which is to be held in Dublin's Croke Park in April of next year. Researcher Dr Willy Lensch, of Harvard Medical School, will be one... Read more

Ambulance-free ED is new trend

Gary Culliton | 06 October 2008 | Guests

The Hermitage Emergency Department (ED) in Lucan, Co. Dublin is part of a new trend in private EDs, in that it does not deal with trauma that would require ambulance responses. It does not cater to car-crash victims or people... Read more

'J'accuse' is not a reasonable way to debate

Terrence Cosgrave | 06 October 2008 | Editorial

Communication has a vital role to play in medicine, as it does in most aspects of life. Most of us have the experience of saying something that later is changed beyond all recognition by mis-interpretation or carelessness. Sometimes this happens... Read more

'J'accuse' is not a reasonable way to debate

Terrence Cosgrave | 06 October 2008 | Editorial

Communication has a vital role to play in medicine, as it does in most aspects of life. Most of us have the experience of saying something that later is changed beyond all recognition by mis-interpretation or carelessness. Sometimes this happens... Read more

How to look like you’re trying to look smart

03 October 2008 | The Inside Back

A few weeks ago, Kathryn Thomas used the word ‘enormity’ incorrectly on national television, and so far as I can surmise, about a dozen people noticed. She should have said ‘enormousness’, if the particular substance of the root (e- (variant... Read more

Partnering with Pharma

03 October 2008 | Guests

Pharma Solutions has done well by being a partner to the pharaceutical industry. Managing partner Paul Flanagan tells Terence Cosgrave about why the company decided to give something back. For Paul Flanagan, the managing partner of Pharma Solutions, the company’s... Read more

Fool me once, shame on you

Dr Sean O'Domhnaill | 03 October 2008 | Guests

Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill writes that when resources are tight, necessity is the mother of innovation when it comes to providing healthcare services. Twenty-four years ago, the Department of Health launched its seminal vision for the future of mental health... Read more

Facing the facts of healthcare

02 October 2008 | Guests

As the world economy hits a rough patch, it is more important than ever for companies to know their market. Jason Byles, Commercial Director of IMS Operations in Ireland, explained to IMT how knowledge is power. Anybody with eyes and... Read more

Career management: piece by piece

Rory Hafford | 01 October 2008 | Guests

Rory Hafford looks at the ‘bite-size’ approach to effective career management, starting with a trip on the New York subway. Back in the late 70s, early 80s, the New York subway was arguably the most dangerous place on earth. Stabbing,... Read more

The Life and Death of Ireland

Brenda Moore-McCann | 01 October 2008 | Guests

Yet, one of our medical colleagues, Brian O’Doherty, has managed to do so in an artistic way by not only creating an alter-ego, Patrick Ireland, and living and working as him for thirty-six years, but then deciding to lay him... Read more

The Cadbury’s ads make me want to eat chocolate

01 October 2008 | The Inside Back

It is a common misconception among people in the advertising world that advertising is a form of art. A more accurate phrase is that art can be used successfully in advertising. A friend of mine who is an amateur composer... Read more

'Normal, ongoing change' in the Irish health sector

Ed Madden | 01 October 2008 | Guests

Ed Madden, BL, looks at a Labour Court case in which unions representing IBTS donor attendants argued that changes in work practices sought by management were well in excess of what was provided for under 'Towards 2016' Donor attendants (DAs)... Read more