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AS MANY IRISH people are pessimistic about the future of healthcare in this country as are optimistic about it, a new report claims.
The report, commissioned by MSD Healthcare Ireland from Ipsos MRBI, states that 39% of the people surveyed are pessimistic about the future of Irish healthcare services.
40% of those surveyed are optimistic about the future of healthcare here.
Other findings of the report are:
The report, entitled ‘My Healthcare, My Future’ consulted 1,000 Irish people by telephone, together with a series of focus groups and interviews with industry experts and professionals.
The point regarding ‘respect’ indicates that the public equate their use of healthcare services with the use of any other consumer service, and as such wish their experience to be replete with ‘appropriate reassurance, empathy, privacy, and respect’, according to the report.
Time to discuss concerns
71% of respondents believe that adequate time should be given to them to discuss their concerns during healthcare consultations.
74% of those surveyed meanwhile think that Irish patients should be able to access their own health records electronically.
Approval rates for both GPs and pharmacists (82% and 86% respectively) are relatively high however.
The report was launched today by Minister for Health Simon Harris, who described it as “a valuable piece of research which will complement the work carried out in my own department and elsewhere”.
You can view the full report here.
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Dismal reading, topped by Harris at the bottom. Enda has promoted incompetence above ability to protect his own position, not a doer to be seen, not even in the main “opposition”.
Doesn’t bode well at all.
The reason for optimism is the proposal to take strategic responsibility away from the Gov and giving it to an All Party committee, who will take a 10 year view. As usual, the best chance we have if fixing this is to limit the involvement of politicians.
@Brinster:
Shorthall deserves some props for her moves on this.
@Brinster: The cross party committee is a political strategy aimed at kicking the need for decision-making on the future of our health services further down the road. The main political parties which make-up this committee are in favour of retaining the current two tiered health system and FG/FF came up with strategies aimed at reforming the health system which both failed to implement. Has the AAA/PBP or the SD’s said where they stand on retaining the public and private system?
Private insurance should never be flagged as an answer to healthcare, if it was, surely there would be no public waiting list, nearly 50% of the population I think have private health insurance, which seems to me they are being short changed with the service they are getting, how come there aren’t private hospitals built right around the country to cope, before anyone takes the head of me, I don’t agree with private hospitals but something is not adding up here, at a medical conference last weekend a consultant stated we immediately need 6000 beds, also they never got a pay rise which was due to them from Mary Harney’ s era. Our population is growing our hospital s are dwindling and yet Simon Harris is ecstatic his department is coming in on budget this year, at what cost ?
I was in a hospital the other were a director of nursing asked for help to make a bed as she did not know how…..and she’s in charge of all those nurses. Need a big cull in the HSE and start from scratch
HSE gets €14 billion budget per year should be enough for good health service apart from needing more consultants
They just seem to spend too much on administration.
The HSE owns and rents so many propertys for administration, training, meetings, storage, policy creation etc etc that they have their “administration” layer simply for this…these are largely anonymous, unaccountable mandarin types who are either extremely well connected or totally incompetent…they are known to HSE insiders by their monsterous f#ck ups…
Peter, is it time to become a whistleblower ? Or are they government backed, or maybe politicians involved.
Catherine…its been tried…its the old Irish golden circle…the elite look out for each other. Example – a private developer bought land from the HSE to build St Edmundsbury near the M50….a multi level apartment complex…however this would overlook an extremely sensitive HSE facility so one would assume permission would be refused….not so!! The HSE accepted the overlooking complex as a fait accompli and went about shutting down the €20 extremely sensitive Childrens facility!!!!
You’ll be glad to know that the HSE are adding four new directorates to it’s current managerial structures!
Great news!! That can only enhance current high standards of accountability, tranparency and efficiency!!! Going Forward!!!
I’m speech less !
Annette, at the expense of medics, obviously that makes so much sense.
@Peter fechter: Funnily enough the DG says that it’ll streamline performance and management – don’t think that anybody’s convinced though!
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/hse-to-appoint-four-new-national-directors-422405.html
Catherine…this usually means 4 total clus#er#ucks whos absolute uselessness at their current level have become too toxic for their productive collegues and as they cant go down…they get promoted to figurehead status!!!
@Catherine Mc: I am wondering is this evidence-based? Did they undertake any evaluation study and did that study identify and recommend that there needed to be more additions to the organisational structure?
Peter, I don’t know what to say anymore, on prime time last night that very brave woman from Cavan spoke of her ordeal in Cavan general, which resulted in the the death of her baby son all because no stenographer in hospital to read scans at 20 weeks, scans at 20 weeks don’t happen in all hospitals apparently, and yet we pay for incompetence in areas of the HSE, the mind really boggles.
Yep told my my doctor and physiotherapist that it will be around 3 years before I get to see a consultant in tullamore that’s if I am lucky. So I will be one of the pessimistic ones.
Best of luck with that. Hope you get a cancellation. 3 years wait is a disgrace.
@Brinster: thanks.
@LITTLEONE: These two schemes apply to both outpatient, day and inpatient services. The Cross Border Directive Route involves up-front payments which are reimbursable and the costs of the TAS are fully met by the HSE….bar travel.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/health/eu_healthcare/treatment_abroad_scheme.html
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/health/eu_healthcare/cross_border_directive.html
Annette, am I correct in thinking you have to be referred by a consultant, isn’t that the crux of the problem, the growing list for consultant appointments ?
@Catherine Mc: The referral can come via a GP or a Consultant under the CBD route. The HSE says that referrals under the TAS must come from an Irish based consultant. Again, that’s against EU law because it aims to prohibit consultants in other EU member states from providing services to Irish citizens. For community based services, the referral can come from an orthodontist, PHN etc. Referrals can come from consultants overseas if you’re able to show that you were referred to that doctor by a GP. If doctors refuse to issue a referral, it can be argued that they’re in breach of EU law on the rules that govern the internal market. Those laws relate to the free movement of people, goods and services including the right to travel and to receive services and the right of overseas providers to provide services to Irish citizens. There’s a major investigation currently being carried out by the Office of the Ombudsman. Patients are being told that they won’t qualify for after-care if they choose to access care under the CBD route which is a blatant breach of European law and the Directive. Public patients who’ve been given an appointment, should really write and tell the hospital that they want them to refer them to the TAS….or alternatively get their GP to refer them. Patients also do not need to seek the prior authorisation of the HSE for outpatient treatment.
The POLITICIANS of every party don’t have the PRINCIPLES to deal with this even the dogs in the street know the problem.
My brother, worked all his life from 12yrs of age, had to beg for a medical card for 4 months after being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, 1 month later he was granted it… 1 month after that he was dead..I was heartbroken for him and helped pay for some of his medication as I could before he got the MC.. then on a trolley in A&E for 27hrs… a dying man… oh yes.. it’s backwards we are going.. not forward
Another study for the dust mites!
Irish should consider diverting their private Health Insurance payments & their PAYE/PRSI/USC payments to RyanMed who will fly them out to proper hospitals in the EU with no waiting lists.
The Government has no money. It (your taxes) belongs to You. What are you waiting for?
H.s.e. Is in so much trouble,only hope is to get private insurance.
@Francid Dooley:
Wasn’t it Howling who said if public health care was good..who would buy private..its run that way for a reason..shameful
@Francid Dooley: That is exactly what they want!
@Francid Dooley: if you can afford it and, even if you can, access is still highly problematical.
I’ve started assembling a fund so that I can travel abroad as a health tourist for treatment on any significant problems. Scandinavian countries are excellent. France is good. If you are too sick to travel or can’t afford it, there is a major problem. At least one person a day dies unnecessarily because of crowding.
Private health is necessary but having to pay for it and the consultant fees too is terrible
Simon Harris one of many T.Ds i would love punch in the face an awful muppet,
There is a German word I love ‘Backpfeifengesicht’, translates to a face in need of a fist!
The other night I went to Tallaght A&E waited 5 hours only to be told to come back at 8:30 am the next day so I drove home to wicklow .Got a few hours sleep and back out there for 8:15 .what a joke
@Eoin: Really sorry to ask but if you could come back to ED in the morning was it really an accident or emergency? Genuine question btw. No offence intended
Get sick, buy a plane ticket make sure to bring ur e111 card
Employ doctors and surgeons who work only in the HSE no double jobbing and if the HSE set up a insurance policy where everyone would pay for health care and take it all away from the Insurance company’s so that everyone no matter who they are get equal treatment.
@Anastasia: We’ve had two doctors as ministers for health, where did that get us?
They tried that. The HSE and government introduced new higher salaries for doctors who would only be able to work public only with no option to take any private income, even from patients with private insurance in public hospitals. Many consultants switched contract and opted for this. The sneaky HSE however decided not to pay them the new salary. As a result many of those consultant have sued the government.
Healthcare in Ireland among the best in the world. Our fleet of trolleys are of lightweight tubular metal, many with alloy wheels (for private patients). There’s ultra absorbent upholstery for the inevitable body fluids excreted when lying incapacitated for 3 days (if you’re lucky). The minister for health has obtained funding for trolley safety rails, so further injuries by rolling off will be a thing of the past.
After a few days in a corridor, boredom may set in, but there are plenty of recreational amateur pharmacists who’ll engage you in conversation if you can understand them. They are easily spotted by their dazzling sportswear that you paid for. The underpaid, overworked and exhausted nurses (if you’re lucky to see one) are probably taking home less money than our track suited fiends.
It’s no wonder that certain ‘ministers for health’ have flown themselves and family abroad for treatment because THEY have no faith in the Irish health system.
High grade sarcasm…only the HSE can merit such quality!!!
One trolly patient shouted to another, nice wheels! Top gear, whato
Political will just isn’t there. Improvements to the service is one of those issues that the majority agree on as it’s clear to everyone how bad it has become.
After Leo “Who me? No, it doesn’t need money…What does it need?..Not sure.I’m outta here in a few anyway” Varadkar.
You knew Harris would relish the promise of improving but soon to be presented only with a FG return. His loyalty is his only redeemable quality.
An absolute farce. The HSE conducted a survey among their staff in 2014, it was a dismal failure with just over 8,600 of almost 121,000 health service staff responding, a response rate of just over 7%.
Although even the response rate of the HSE survey compares well to this one which has a response rate of 0.021%. When you read the report and see the fantastic imagery used you can’t help but notice that none of it reflects the reality of a real Irish hospital, and yes, I’ve been in a few. Everything is bright, clean, almost cheerful, the patients and staff are smiling. You can almost hear the voiceover saying “if Heineken made hospitals…” In a word it’s false.
The report states they conducted their ‘market research’ beginning in late 2015 and running through the first half of 2016. Why so long? I’d like to see the actual survey used and the questions they asked to put it into context, as it is it’s just meaningless statistics that have no reflection on reality.
Im a HSE employee and i wouldnt trust them enough to complete one of their surveys…surveillance more like…in any case the info gathered will certainly be manipulated and contributors misrepresented…or worse!
I got a bill for €225 do my child’s 3 night stay in a public hospital recently.maybe I’m missing the point but what am I paying tax for at all?
@Fergal Nannery: to ensure th fat cats in HSE,rte are paid and fine Gael retain power
@Seán Domhnall how does it keep fine Gael in power exactly? I don’t think they introduced the charge and surely if I am annoyed with the government for having this charge I would be more likely not to vote fine Gael at the next election.and I can’t see what rte has to to with the HSE.
Any reason for optimism /:
Was listening to some politician on the radio the other day claiming that we do have a free health system and then almost as an example said its free for a hospital bed … Apart from a hundred euro or so payment. Now I do appreciate that we are not at American rates which charge you $600 for a plaster (yes of course I made that price up) but only a politician would consider a payment of €100 to be “free”! I know we have had a couple of trips to the a&e with 2 of our kids this year and that doesn’t fall into their free gp care (for which I have been very grateful for by the way) so we have to scrounge an extra €200 for that this year out of thin air!
Hopefull???? That’s a joke. I live in Madrid where every doctor visit, specialist visit, hospital visit is free (paid through the taxes I pay). My records are held digitally which means all public service doctors wherever they are in the country can access my health history. I have a public health card with an individual number that doubles as a “digital prescription card”. Health services work!! And labour law here gives everyone the right to days off when a daily member is hospitalized. My mother has been through the most ridiculous couple of months dealing with a high-risk cancer, yet doctors are so bloody clueless in my country… you know what they do? They fight over her post-op dressings, take out a drain that should have been left in, she gets an enormous infection that three months later has still not healed entirely. The last time she visited the radiotherapy doctor at CUH she was told to come back next week as she DIDN’T BRING HER OWN SPARE DRESSING WITH HER so the doc could check the wound. APPARENTLY THEY DIDN’T HAVE ANY OF THOSE DRESSINGS AND “WOULDN’T KNOW HOW TO PUT IT ON ANYWAY”. So another week waiting for the “high-risk” patient before she can start any sort of radiotherapy. Sure it’s only people’s lives they are dealing with. Absolute disgrace. I’ve never been more disappointed in my country.
Private is the way to go. The public system is barbaric, I know, I have had necessity to use both. If you wish to survive a serious illness I would suggest you get private insurance immediatley. The shudda wudda cudda talk about the public system will not save your life, having private health insurance probably will.
What does ‘at all’ actually mean?
How can even that many be optimistic
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