Terence Cosgrave warns that the HSE is making moves now that could cost both consultants and GPs in the long run, and force GPs to make judgements over the phone that could affect patient safety It has become apparent from two stories that feature in this week’s edition of Irish Medical Times that the Health [...]
Dara Gantly reports on the standards of professional practice and behaviour now expected from doctors — together with their responsibilities to patients — as laid down in the Medical Council’s recently released new Ethical Guide The new edition of the Medical Council’s Ethical Guide may not become as widely read as the latest Dan Brown [...]
Gary Culliton writes that the HSE has identified a ‘concerning’ amount of consultants who are not complying with the agreed public/private ratio Just one-fifth of consultants at St John’s Hospital in Limerick and at Croom Orthopaedic Hospital are complying with the public/private work ratios in their contracts. Only a quarter of consultants at the Mid-Western [...]
Dr Garrett FitzGerald reflects on the similarities between the present crisis in public finances and the drastic health cuts of the 1980s. But he also wonders if individual hospitals might manage better with less… eh, management The big Budget is almost upon us. The Frontline Alliance has put down its marker which says: we’re more [...]
Dr Mick Molloy says that Ireland is facing a crisis in its finances and everyone (without exception) must be prepared to suffer some cutbacks in their income and lifestyle It is only a short time now until ‘Budgement Day’, a new word I know but I think the concept will be known to those who [...]
It’s almost December. Everything is still sh*t. That makes me 35 and 0 on my yearly predictions that everything will remain the same or get worse. I retroactively count the year I was nonverbal, since it would be reckless to assume that, as a baby, I was an optimist. These are wonderful times to be [...]
Re: Self-evident when it suits! Dear Editor, Cathal Ó’Súilliobháin (‘Enjoy cocaine responsibly’; IMT, 13th November, 2009) refutes the statement (probably correctly) that ‘all illegal drugs are very dangerous’ (on the basis of the ‘overwhelming weight of scientific evidence’), and along with it the statement that ‘there are some facts that are self-evident’ (again, probably correctly). [...]
Dear Editor, My father always held that the permanent government made all the decisions and the elected inexperienced government mostly implemented them. He held that on this basis, three Reverend Mothers are what the country needs to run it properly. Having been in practice now for 56 years, I ask the question: “Has there been [...]
Dear Editor, I was very disturbed to see an article by Dr Garrett FitzGerald in Irish Medical Times (13/11/09). I will not comment on the contents of the article as these are the author’s own opinions. However, the selection of picture, which is one of the most holiest places for Muslims, is deeply distressing in [...]
Dear Editor, Minister Mary Harney is suggesting a 50 cent charge per item on a prescription for Medical Card patients and has also suggested, in her role as a doctor presumably, that ten items per prescription are both excessive and unnecessary. I would like her to talk to at least one of my patients. This [...]
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