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TV PRESENTER BRENDAN Courtney has been appointed to the Sláintecare Implementation Advisory Council.
Health Minister Simon Harris said the advisory council – which is made up of 23 members from a range of backgrounds, including a number of medical professionals, experts and patient advocates – is a critical element in the implementation of Sláintecare – which is the cross-party plan to overhaul the Irish health service over ten years.
Last year, Courtney took part in ‘We Need to Talk about Dad‘, a documentary about the difficulty of organising care for his father, who was unable to look after himself following a stroke.
In the documentary, Courtney and his sister discussed how they might care for their dad – including remortgaging their houses in order to pay for nursing home care.
The programme gave an insight into the difficulties people face when caring for the elderly. After visiting a nursing home, Courtney said: “You don’t want to be mean about it because people work really hard at it, but it is depressing.”
Highlighting the difficulties of the Fair Deal scheme
The programme also highlighted the difficulties in navigating the Fair Deal nursing home support scheme and the fact that it does not cover care in the home.
The lack of supports available for families trying to care for older people, the lack of viable options for home care or step-down care and the difficulties in applying for a nursing home place was also under the spotlight.
Courtney is currently in production with a follow-up documentary, We need to talk about Mam – which looks at aging and retirement in Ireland.
Campaigner and advocate, Roisin Molloy, whose son died 22 minutes after his birth at Portlaoise Hospital, was also appointed to the committee.
Baby Mark died in January 2012 at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise as a result of a number of care and systems failings.
‘Unique insight’
The impact of her baby’s avoidable death and her search for the truth thrust Molloy and her husband Mark into the roles of campaigners, advocates and researchers after their story was featured in an RTÉ Investigations Unit report in 2014.
A statement from the Department of Health states that due to her personal experience of grief and rearing a young family, and participating in numerous internal HSE investigations, the coroner’s process, a HIQA investigation, a civil case and an external review of Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise, she has a unique insight into the existing structures and the areas that are not functioning as they should.
“Her work to find the truth about Baby Mark’s death has highlighted many areas that are having a negative impact the health service delivered by the State. Issues such as no managerial accountability, no open disclosure, inadequate and inconsistent investigation processes, no learning from mistakes and the lack of compassion for patients at a time that patients need it most,” it added.
Other members on the committee include, former General Secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, Liam Doran, Leo Kearns, Chief Executive Officer of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and Dr Eddie Molloy who specialises in strategy, large-scale change and innovation.
Announcing the membership, the minister said he is delighted to have been able to appoint a diverse group of people with a breadth of experience and expertise in healthcare, governance, change management and leadership.
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And his qualifications are ?????????
@Eugene Conroy: clearly didn’t watch the documentary last year. He’s very well up there when it comes to making sure older people have care. What do older people going into homes not need? The home they’re in. Slaintecare is going to be a win win for everyone and this is the one bit of bipartisan law our usually inept Dail can be proud of.
@Eugene Conroy: first hand life experience of the issue! That, in my opinion makes him much more qualified than some book smart professional who has never had to deal with this issue on a personal level.
@robbie: I agree, if you’re talking about medical advice, but if you’re talking about the practicalities and day to day care of an ill relative then I think someone with first hand experience is very well qualified to have an opinion.
@Eugene Conroy: a media employee who I bet has rolls Royce VHI
Congrats Brendan always liked Brendan Courtney bumped into him on caple st some years ago a true gentleman
Jobs for the boys full stop.
@Donal Carey: How so?
@Donal Carey: will ya stop with the begrudgery – there’s no money involved when participating in a working group.
Or “Advisory Council” by another term
@Vic’s Burd: why hasn’t somebody that is qualified to advise but they pick a Tv presenter there are people all over the country working for charities and have never even been properly thanked I would love to see one of them give there advise .
@Vic’s Burd: is travel expenses not money?????
Well done Brendan. Tell the council we need 5 more hospitals. Care free at the point of delivery. No A and E charges and no GP charges.
@Kevin Slater: and money trees in every garden
@Daniel Wilson: something TD’s believe in obviously having given away 8 billion a year in interest for the next 36 years to those friendly banking chaps.
And the hundreds of policy officers and charity workers who have been campaigning and working on this for years are snubbed for a tv personality who will be used to get coverage in the journal.
@Lainie Ed: Or you could view Brendan as the tip of the funnel for those campaigners. Like it or not he has an audience, more importantly though is his consistent advocacy for these campaigners and a credible producer who has brought many issues into the sitting rooms of thousands in a very compelling manner. I think it’s a progressive and shrewd appointment.
That said, it could be difficult for him if those who want what he is trying to achieve most, are the very ones who resent his presence over theirs and make communication and organisation amongst the disparate groups working in silos a hurdle.
Isn’t someone being cared for in their own home that are mobile, cheaper than a retirement home. Why isn’t it been done.
A tough job due to the vast embedded vested interests .. probably 20 yrs rather then 10.
Good luck, Brendan
I give up
Its really irrelevant who’s on the committee. The slaintecare proposal is basically getting rid of some user changes and shoveling more tax payers money into the system without making any fundamental changes to how the system operates. Typical political spin. What we need is to get the useless PS bureaucrats out of the business of healthcare delivery and adopt a social insurance model like they have in most other European countries.
So copying the film, The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer? Another talking shop that allows people to put things on hold in order to shelve it for a few years?
I’ll bet my last euro every member had Rolls Royce private health cover and I bet not journalist will ask that question
Millions as qualified as him. Good luck to him.
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