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The Daily PollIT WAS ANNOUNCED yesterday that a referendum on whether to repeal the Eighth Amendment will be held on Friday 25 May.
The issue has been in the national spotlight for a long time now, as it was first discussed by the Citizens’ Assembly, then by an Oireachtas Committee, then by the Dáil and the Seanad, before the official date was finally announced.
The issue of abortion has proven to be hugely divisive in the past, with the 1983 referendum for putting the Eighth into the Constitution remembered as bitter and fiercely fought.
Referendum turnouts can vary depending on how much the public is interested in the issue, with higher turnouts recorded for votes that matter more to people.
So, with the referendum scheduled for less that two months away, will you hit the polls?
Today we’re skin, Do you plan to vote in the referendum on 25th May?
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Any word from Leo? He’s gone awful quiet again I’ve noticed, I suppose a PR event will pop up soon though and he can give a few more sound bytes!
labour style recovery
A lot of Irish people have a similar story with waiting lists, it’s a disgrace.
I waited 8 months to see a consultant about possible sleep apnea, now have to wait at least 6 months for the actual sleep study. Can’t afford it privately, can’t afford health insurance, stuck feeling like utter crap in the mean time.
How many of you have stories that are the same? The waiting lists in this country are beyond belief.
Many consultants are gone to North America and Australia where working conditions and pay are far better. The HSE is unable to fill many of their vacant consultant posts.
“The HSE is unwilling to fill many of their vacant consultant posts.” Corrected that for you.
Here’s a link to a headhunter site that advertises over 100 vacancies for consultant posts. The HSE can advertise all it wants, just no one will apply to work in some jobs in the HSE.
http://www.headhuntinternational.com/jobs/job-search-results/kw-consultant/clid-1/
Shame on Leo varadkar, shame on this government ,resign you incompetent shower of ………………………
Can just see it now .. Home come ol Leo from the hols and then gets straight back to his cowboy regime and of course his first words will most likely be “free eyecare and free eyes for everybody plus with every eye surgery you’ll also get a free car , that’s once you have elected my shambles party into government again of course
In Spain it’s six weeks.
But I thought Spain was in the dumps and we are flying economically? That’s what the FG fanboys are constantly spouting on here, some great little country heh!
You wait because the consultants see private patients first and public patients, who pay for the health service through income tax, are pushed back indefinitely. There would be plenty of capacity in the hospitals if doctors were contracted to work 40 hours in public hospitals. Also private patients should be treated in private hospitals built and payed for by the insurance companies. As it stands private patients are given beds in public hospitals and public patients go on an indefinite waiting list
It doesn’t matter how many patients a surgeon wants to operate on – he can’t operate on them if there is no operating theatre space. The hospitals do not want to pay for theatre space, and theatre nurses – so they keep theatres closed. Private hospitals love eye surgery, the patients walk in, they walk out, no expensive nursing care – so the number of private patients being treated in public hospitals is probably very small.
On the other point – are you saying that someone who has paid their taxes all their lives should not receive treatment in a public hospital – just because they paid health insurance as well?
The reason is fairly straightforward. There is a shortage of public ophthalmologists and associated staff in Ireland. It’s made more difficult by an aging population. Cataracts are going to get a lower priority than other eye conditions that are irreversible unless treated quickly. They are also going to be delayed if the person needs to be admitted for surgery as they have to compete with the emergency department for available beds.
That said the constant refrain of ‘it’s the Minster for Health’s fault’, which I’ve heard for the last 20 years and about the last 10 ministers is a gross simplification. That’s the reason nobody has had a solution. It’s lots of people’s fault, including the good people of Ireland’s. Nobody’s going to win any votes (or green thumbs) here by telling people that though.
How is it the fault of the people of Ireland ?
Shortage of everything
It’s the fault of the people of Ireland for not demanding a proper health service. You can get 100,000 people marching in Dublin about paying for water, and no one marches about healthcare. We elect the politicians, so if the politicians don’t act – it’s our fault fro re-electing them.
Ireland spends less on healthcare (8% of GDP) than most other developed countries – Germany & France spend 11%, the USA spends 16%. If we spent the same amount as Germany and France, that would mean a 50% increase in health spending – imagine a 50% increase in hospital beds, or a 50% increase in the ability to do eye surgery – there would soon be no waiting lists, and no one waiting on trolleys. However Irish people don’t want to pay the taxes that this would cost.
http://www.oecd.org/health/health-systems/Focus-Health-Spending-2015.pdf
Sure Leo will be off on Holidays soon and i am sure he will tell us it will be sorted out afterwards… or its on the plan if they get in after next election
Is it any surprise. These wait times are necessary in order to sell private health insurance.
An extremely ill friend of mine, that has sight in one eye to begin with, waited for two yrs to have her treatment. She lives near the border area and was thus to be treated by a cross border initiative. She was lied to time and time again about when the clinic would be set up, the start dates, staffing problems, until one staff member took pity on her and said that truthfully he didn’t have any idea of her treatment date. Finally when she could no longer see to take her meds ,some friends helped her financially to go to the Mater Private where the Consultant was so shocked at her condition that he checked to see if the surgery could be done there and then. She had her Opp the next morning.
My mother is one of them. Told not to drive in the dark for over a year. Almost lost her job because of it.
My mother is another one, and they intended to press ahead with the operation regardless of the fact that an abnormal ECG on the pre-op work-up indicated that she required an urgent cardiac review.
The shambles of a healthcare system is not the result of government ‘incompetence’ – it is the result of a deliberate and very carefully thought out plan, – to defund, & cripple the system so that privatisation is the only alternative.
Former Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, who was appointed to the board of the Beacon (private)Hospital group.(Denis O’Brien, proprietor.) – proposed privatisation when in office.
The government don’t give a damn about the people, – they just want to look after their ‘sugar-daddies’
If you are waiting too long demand to be flown out by RyanMed, on the treatment abroad scheme, to a proper health service. Its your money/taxes …
The only reason I have kept my medical insurance (at an outrageous premium for very little) is in case I need a second cataract operation, which I’m told is a likely event. I have mentioned before on this forum that I had a cataract removed, under local anaesthetic, in a private hospital, who charged over €2,000.00 for me to occupy a trolley for a couple of hours, and of course my pain killers and nursing care. The Surgeon and Anaesthetist charged separately. Sight Savers appear to be able to do the job a little cheaper, according to their ads. Maybe the people on the waiting lists (and me) should contact them.
Good job Leo!!
Why doesn’t consultants could refer long-waiters abroad for OPD and day (which doesn’t require prior approval) and inpatient services under the treatment abroad scheme?
have your say