Sir, – "Australian colleagues gasp when they hear how Irish doctors work" (Sinead Fahy, Generation Emigration, Online, December 10th) is a shamefully accurate reflection of the embarrassment I feel when describing our squalid healthcare system to colleagues abroad.
The annual bed crisis is normalised and we accept delays and cancellations with compromised care as standard. Attempts to clear the trolley crisis pushes elective patients out of their beds, delays cancer treatment and will undermine cancer outcomes in Ireland.
Again this is accepted as normal in the Irish system as everyone is doing their best with what we have; that is not good enough.
I should be in the operating theatre now, but there aren’t enough beds today so much of another productive day is lost and my waiting list grows. – Yours, etc,
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Prof MALCOLM R KELL, MD, FRCSI
Dublin 7.