Advertisement

Readers like you keep news free for everyone.

More than 5,000 readers have already pitched in to keep free access to The Journal.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can help keep paywalls away.

Support us today
Not now
Saturday 25 March 2023 Dublin: 10°C

# Department of Health

Last week
12th March 2023 - 25th March 2023
# savita
Hundreds of heartfelt notes left at mural of Savita Halappanavar are published online
The personal messages left in tribute to Savita will now be preserved and accessible in the future.
This month
March 2023
# contact tracing
Covid Tracker app expected to be 'decommissioned' by this summer
The app cost €811,227 to launch with over €100,000 spent on support and development in the six months after it launched.
# Covid-19
HSE bought 10 times more ventilators than necessary, hundreds of which were unusable
The HSE spent €129 million on ventilators, buying nearly twice the number approved by the Department of Health.
# women's healthcare
New endometriosis treatment plan to include faster treatment times and two specialist centres
The framework will be implemented on a phased basis, commencing this year.
Last month
February 2023
# fair deal scheme
Nursing home staff question ethics of relying on large nutrition firms to assess residents
Nursing home staff said that elderly residents are being transferred to hospital to get catheters changed because it is so hard to access primary care.
# Robert Watt
Nursing home charges: Legal strategy was 'never challenged' by politicians, says top civil servant
Many medical card holders who were in long-term care between 1976 to 2005 had to pay when it should have been free.
# Nursing Homes
Families of nursing home residents being charged for 'incontinence wear, bandages and therapy'
“It’s a scandal, one family paid €2,500 to a private nursing home in just over a year,” a TD said today.
January
January 2023
# Explainer
Nursing home charges: What is the controversy about and how has the Government responded?
A 2011 memo stated that the liability from these incorrect charges could amount to €12 billion.
# Nursing Homes
Calls for Government to publish records on 'secret strategy' for illegal nursing home charges
It follows a report in today’s Irish Mail on Sunday.
# OPeration Transformation
Department of Health no longer a sponsor of RTÉ's Operation Transformation
In both 2021 and 2022, the Department spent €230,000 to sponsor the series which has come under criticism for its focus on weight loss.
# Abortion
Still no timeline for safe access zone bill, deemed a 'priority' by Government in 2021
The legislation was meant to be published last March.
# System Overload
Strength of gay community response to monkeypox was ‘key’ in controlling outbreak
After Covid, monkeypox was the first big test for Ireland’s public health system. How did we fare – and what can we learn?
# parking pressure
Government commitment to reduce hospital parking charges ‘not prioritised’
Despite repeated promises, little progress has been made to prevent the cost of hospital parking falling on the most vulnerable.
A HSE implementation plan to reduce parking charges was written in 2019 but 'has been superseded by the passage of time'
It would cost at least €4.75 million to cap daily charges at €10
Advocate: 'It would be an easy win for the government'
Last year
2022
# Organ Donation
250 organ transplants took place in Ireland this year
The HSE has thanked the donors and their families who made the life-saving transplants possible.
# IMO
Junior doctors vote overwhelmingly in favour of agreement to tackle unsafe working hours
The agreement also grants guaranteed access to leave for essential exams.
# Trolleys
Mater restricts visits due to high levels of respiratory infections as 'record' overcrowding hits hospitals
It’s the joint-highest number of patients without a bed that the organisation has ever recorded.
# free contraception
Over 700 GPs still waiting for free contraception contracts to be finalised
The scheme was opened to women aged 17 to 25 last month.
Voices
Opinion: Every woman needs access to reproductive healthcare over the course of her life
On the launch of its new ‘Every Woman’ report into healthcare, National Women’s Council Director Orla O’Connor looks at the challenges that still remain.
# new cmo
Professor Breda Smyth appointed new chief medical officer at the Department of Health
Professor Smyth has been the interim chief medical officer since July, after Dr Tony Holohan stood down from the role.
# sexual health
HSE launches free home testing for STIs
The test kits are available to people aged 17 or over and are delivered by post.
# the needle has landed
HSE launches winter vaccination programme with flu and Covid-19 jabs
The HSE is inviting eligible groups to get their flu jab and their Covid-19 booster.
# Healthcare
Budget 2023 must address 'chronic' overcrowding in Irish hospitals, says INMO
It called for a ‘laser focus’ on recruitment of nurses and midwives.
# pandemic
Current Covid wave has peaked but hospital capacity remains under pressure, says CMO
46 Covid-19 related deaths were reported in the first 19 days of this month.
# free contraception
Free contraception for women aged 17 to 25 to be rolled out by September
President Michael D Higgins signed the measures into law today.
# Cannabis Risk Alliance
Anti-cannabis group met privately with drugs minister to discuss possible RSA-style ad campaign
The Cannabis Risk Alliance met Frank Feighan in January last year.
The Cannabis Risk Alliance told Frank Feighan last year that there should be "full transparency" around lobbyists and advocates, Stephen McDermott writes.
However, a loophole in lobbying laws mean the group's communications with the Government do not themselves have to be recorded.
Activists have questioned why the group had access to Feighan when those advocating for a different approach have found access more difficult.
# Coronavirus
Hospitals 'under considerable pressure' due to Covid, Holohan says in final pandemic report
Dr Tony Holohan stepped down as Chief Medical Officer this week.
# sma
'Timing is key': Parents call for inclusion of rare genetic disease in newborn heel prick test
SMA is a degenerative disease that causes damage to nerves that develop muscle function and allow children to eat, move and breathe.
# job vacancy
'Remuneration is significant': No appetite in Govt to increase €420k salary for next HSE boss
Questions have been raised about whether tensions between the HSE and Department of Health played a part in Paul Reid’s decision to step down.
# Robert Watt
Working conditions for non-consultant hospital doctors must change, senior civil servant says
The Secretary General of the Department of Health said many doctors already work longer hours than what is considered legal and safe.
# medical mission
Ireland has evacuated a total of 13 patients, including five injured soldiers, from Ukraine
So far 13 people, including five soldiers, have been brought to Ireland for medical treatment from Ukraine.
# Dust down the cv
Applications are now open for the Chief Medical Officer job
The job comes with an €187,578 annual salary and the deadline for applications is 30 June.
# Labour Court
Medical scientists to suspend strike action next week and will return to WRC for talks
The three days of strike action planned for next week have all been suspended, say the MLSA.
# Cystic Fibrosis
'Intensive work' ongoing to give 35 children with Cystic Fibrosis access to life-changing drug
Donnelly said it is important to him ‘that children get access to the drug that they need’.
# NMH
Government will press ahead with plans for new maternity hospital
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there was an urgent need for the new hospital.
THE MORNING LEAD
Q&A: What are the issues surrounding the National Maternity Hospital moving to St Vincent's?
A report by
Céimin Burke
A range of questions are hanging over the relocation plan.
# Health
'A tenner a year lease': Martin says maternity hospital will effectively be in public ownership
Yesterday Cabinet delayed a final decision on the future of the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) amid ongoing controversy over the project.
The Oireachtas Health Committee is set to interrogate the plans before the matter goes back to Cabinet in two weeks' time.
Minister Catherine Martin has described this as "a valuable process".
Minister Simon Harris says there was agreement across the three government parties, and all genders, to delay a decision.
'All lawfully permitted procedures', including abortion, to be allowed in new NMH, minister says
What’s going on with the ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital and why are people unhappy?
# botched appointment
Donnelly orders external review into Tony Holohan's abandoned secondment at Trinity College
The Health Minister said he ordered the review “to examine learnings and recommendations that could inform future such initiatives”.
# Hepatitis
HSE investigating small number of 'serious' hepatitis cases in children
It comes after British health officials identified 74 cases of hepatitis among children under the age of 10 across the UK.
# DAILY FIGURES
Coronavirus: 4,761 new cases and 1,004 patients in hospital, including 53 in ICU
The Department of Health announced the figures in a statement this afternoon.
# new tcd role
'Lessons have to be learned' from Dr Holohan TCD role controversy, Taoiseach says
Dr Holohan said yesterday he will not proceed with a new role in TCD after stepping down as Chief Medical Officer later this year.