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# health-service - Monday 22 November, 2010

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# health-service - Monday 16 August, 2010

WAITING 24 hours for a bed is not a thing of the past according to figures released by the HSE.

The daily “census” which records how many patients have been waiting for admission to a hospital ward each day at 2pm, shows that in 3% of cases patients wait more than 24 hours for a bed.

The figures also reveal that 39% of patients waited between 12 and 24 hours and 21% waited between six and 12 hours to be admitted.

Connolly Hospital is the only hospital in the country to have patients waiting more than 24 hours to be admitted to a ward after turning up at the emergency department.

Seven hospitals had patients waiting between six and 12 hours to be admitted, Roscommon Hospital, Our Lady’s in Navan, the Adelaide and Meath, the Mercy in Cork and Dublin’s Mater, Beaumont and Connolly hospitals.

The HSE maintains that “the vast majority of patients admitted from the Emergency Department do not wait for admission”. They say that 52% don’t wait at all for admission.

The news comes just as Dr James Reilly revealed that almost 18,000 surgeries were cancelled last year.

# health-service - Wednesday 11 August, 2010

ELECTRICAL WORKER’S UNION the TEEU are planning a picket of St James’s Hostpial on Monday. Management at the hospital are however appealing ot the union to delay the planned action.

After talks at the Labour Relations Commission broke down yesterday, the hospital said it would like to pursue discussions directly with the union.

The dispute centres around management’s attempts to transfer the responsibility to reset fire alarms at the hospital from electricians to employees of a private security firm. The hospital says it would save money by doing so, as electricians are currently paid for four to eight hours to simply reset an alarm.

Electricians have already held two four-hour stoppages in recent days, though emergency cover was provided.

The TEEU was also responsible for the recent Otis lifts strike.

# health-service - Monday 2 August, 2010

FINE GEAL’S health spokesperson Dr James Reilly revealed the HSE have spent €120m on taxis.

The money was spent out over the past four years with the HSE hiring taxis to transfer patients and staff. €29m a year was spent each year.

“Clearly there is a need to provide transport for patients but there must be a question mark over whether this is the most efficient, safest way to meet that need,” said Dr Reilly.

“Furthermore, while it is true that staff will be required to accompany patients from time to time, a bill for staff taxis of €650,000 to €700,000 sounds alarm bells.

“The HSE must provide a proper breakdown of this cost.”

O’Reilly received the information through a parliamentary question to Health Minister Mary Harney. Dr Reilly has said that instead of providing value for money and tackling inefficiencies such as taxis, Minister Harney has cut front line services.

The HSE  said the use of taxis for patient transport was more cost effective than the HSE owning and maintaining its own vehicles.

The McCarthy reported said the HSE should aim to cut its expenditure on taxis by 20% and criticized the organisation for not tendering for taxi services since 1995.

# health-service - Monday 19 July, 2010

MENTALLY ILL PATIENTS who do not show signs of improvement are sometimes “contained” with the use of psychiatric drugs, according to experts.

Chairman of the Mental Health Lawyers Association, Mark Felton, says that the practice of simply drugging patients who are showing no signs of improvement provides no solution to their condition.

The association, which represents people who have been admitted to psychiatric units non-voluntarily,  has called on the establishment of a low-security forensic unit, reports The Irish Examiner.

Another member of the association, tribunal solicitor Eamonn Maloney, said that people with very particular needs were being failed, and added that he has seen people disimprove over time due to improper medical treatment, which can sometimes centre around “containment” through habitual drugging.

Dr Siobhán Barry of the Irish Psychiatric Association explained that the situation was unacceptable because it did not address the spectrum of needs that patients have:

“There is a huge difference between having someone in a psychiatric unit, and having someone in the Central Mental Hospital at Dundrum and there is nothing in between.”