Irish Apartheid. Healthcare Inequality in Ireland now published

My first book has been published. You can get it in all good Irish book shops and on line from New Island www.newisland.ie and  from Amazon.
Happy reading

Sara

Cosy consensus with drinks industry mitigates against public health

Despite over 15 years of policies and strategies on how to reduce our alcohol intake as a nation, our problematic alcohol use continues. Last Friday (30 January 2010) was the closing date for public submissions to another government initiative to develop alcohol policies as part of a new overall National Substance Misuse Strategy. There have been a series of national policies on both alcohol and illicit/illegal drugs but up to now they have been separate. So what is significant about this is for the first time alcohol is being named as a drug and included in a new drugs strategy – contrary to the best intention of the drinks’ industry.  But what is extraordinary is that the drinks industry is on the government’s own Steering Group to develop proposals for a National Substance Misuse Strategy. How cosy is that?

Obama’s pledge of universal health coverage is no more

In Obama’s State of the Union address, the president acknowledged mistakes made in his first 12 months in office and pledged to persist with health insurance reform. So where has Obama got to with his health reforms and how has his promise of universal health insurance coverage changed and diminished?

After nearly a century of trying — Democratic administrations, Republican administrations — we are closer than ever to bringing more security to the lives of so many Americans. The approach we’ve taken would protect every American from the worst practices of the insurance industry. It would give small businesses and uninsured Americans a chance to choose an affordable health care plan in a competitive market.

This quote from Obama’s speech gives it all away….

Chronic shortage of GPs in ireland soon to become critical

On News at One on 14 January, HSE chief Brendan Drumm came out fighting on the news of imminent strike action in the health sector. This combined with a cut of over €1 billion for the HSE and unions saying they won’t cooperate with ‘reform’ means there are particularly challenging times ahead for the HSE. Crucial but separate to the HSE are local GPs. Yet we already have a shortage of GPs and are facing a real crisis in GP care.

Emergency departments coping well with the ‘cold snap’

With the current cold snap our public hospital emergency departments have been inundated with large numbers of people injured from falls on snow and ice. So how are the emergency departments (EDs) coping?

Prescriptions are hazardous to health

See here for article in Sunday Times on the craziness of prescription charges

The year gone by…. in health

Health was usurped by the economy as the story of the year in 2009, yet health stories persistently hit the headlines.If you look at the papers on 29 and 30 December 2009, the stories seem like ground hog day: crowded A&Es, excessive wait times for colonoscopies, barbaric conditions in psychiatric hospitals.

But look if we objectively over the year what were new health stories?

The two biggest health stories were – the flu pandemic and internationally Obama’s efforts to extend health care coverage in USA. And of course the new consultants’ contract…

Achievements in cancer care

All Irish families are touched by cancer. A year ago the country was still reeling from a series of cancer misdiagnosis scandals. What has happened 2009 in cancer care is a remarkable achievement.

The cancer strategy was published in 2006 –  and it recommended cancer services be centralised in eight designated centres. Up to 2007/8, cancer services provided in 35 hospitals around the country. Now they are provided in these eight specialist centres.

Because of the specialised nature of cancer and the small size of Ireland’s population, in order to provide quality cancer care, it is necessary for services and professionals to have a certain through put of patients.

Last week, the last of the eight centres in Cork was opened which means that the transition from 35 to eight hospitals is now more or less complete.

So do we now have state of the art cancer services?

Consultants’ call for pay increase denied by HSE

This article by me appeared in yesterday’s Sunday Times.

The Department of Health is refusing to back down over pay cuts, denying hospital consultants a salary rise to which they claim they are contractually entitled.

Last week, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said its members would accept the pay cuts in the budget if they were first given the salary increase, which they said had been owed since June. The consultants claimed the rise was due under the terms of a new contract which came into force this year.

But the department has told The Sunday Times that no rise in pay will be given to any high-earning public servant, including consultants, until at least 2012, as recommended by a recent government report. 

Budget 2010: hitting the poorest people and most marginalised communities

As the dust begins to settle on Budget 2010, the real impact of this budget on people’s health and well-being is beginning to emerge. How will Budget 2010 hurt some of the poorest and most marginalised in our community? This blog looks at the impact of the cuts on some community projects and the response of the Community Platform.

Hear what real people think of the budget 2010

Forget the political propaganda and very effective government media spin and hear what people from communities in the south inner city of Dublin have to say abut the budget and a few random others including myself think of the budget on Vincent Browne’s TV show from the Fatima Community Centre on the night of the budget!