Madam, – In order to restore public confidence in an already crumbling health service, any inquiry into the debacle at Tallaght hospital must be wholly transparent, rather like the X-rays themselves.
Accountability should go all the way to the top of the pyramid – to the Minister. Notwithtanding, I am sure we will have more from the “it’s not my fault school of politics”. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – A quick peek at the health department website in New Zealand (the country the Minister for Health is visiting for St Patrick’s Day) tells us “. . . we lead and support the sector to achieve better health for New Zealanders, including reduced inequalities, better participation and independence, trust and security. The minister of health has overall responsibility for the health and disability system”.
This kind of stuff must surely be akin to a wooden stake being driven through the Minister’s heart, given that it is utterly contrary to her own attitude to healthcare provision and where responsibility ought to lie in these matters. A Minister taking responsibility? Whatever next? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I must applaud Prof Tom O’Dowd’s intervention on the appalling breakdown in the hospital GP interface in Tallaght hospital with its effects on patient care (Home News, March 11th).
In fact, there is a hamfisted way of handling GP referrals in most Irish hospitals, where these letters are not receipted and disappear into an abyss. We are constantly warning people to track appointments as we cannot guarantee that referral letters are opened, read or acted upon. A huge amount of a busy day is used up tracking appointments and stressing the urgent ones.
Some of us have been beating this drum for over 15 years and have become regarded as troublemakers or mavericks. If I am a troublemaker or maverick in the interest of patient care, I don’t care.
In HSE and management quarters throughout the health system there is an anti-GP bias, yet we provide over 90 per cent of patient care and there are not two tiers in our service.
Most western societies value good primary care but it is impossible to deliver it well in a country where it is undervalued at a decision making level.
It might seem trite to ask for heads to roll, but in this case they should, starting with a Minister and her mandarins who prefer the innate unfairness of an American style system to the caring inherent in a European one.
I hope the hospital managements have the good grace to listen to us in future. – Yours, etc,