Since engaging with RTÉ some patients have had appointments & others have had operations, but for some the wait goes on #RTEInvestigates pic.twitter.com/GgFh4m1KX4
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 6, 2017
“The personal stories of the people waiting for treatment are deeply moving and the experiences they describe are absolutely inexcusable.
“I am keenly aware of this burden and it is for this reason that last summer I requested that the HSE put in place an Action Plan to halve the number of patients waiting over 18 months for treatment….
“However, I think it is important to note that, while there are still too many people who have to wait too long for their treatment, as of last December, only 2% of patients were waiting longer than 18 months for treatment. 93% were receiving treatment within 15 months and over half were receiving treatment within 6 months.”
Minister for Health Simon Harris (top) on last night’s RTÉ Investigates (above) programme on overcrowding in Irish hosptials
Viewers shocked as people on hospital waiting lists often consider suicide (Irish Examiner)
Rollingnews
Meanwhile…
Sick Society: FG/ Lab ploughed Billions into #Irishwater fiasco as Health Spending cut to the bone #RTEInvestigates #vinb pic.twitter.com/445iJoCcJB
— Mick Caul (@caulmick) February 6, 2017
Dumb tweet is dumb – how much more money the Govt would have for the health service if the provision of water services were paid for by the user?
To flush down the toilet
Rob G .. im begging you to change your name .. Im also a Rob G in real life, and I’m terrified my friends and family read your nonsense and think it’s me.
I very much doubt that they could confuse my more-or-less reasoned arguments with your hyperbolic scutter.
I have serious doubts about the logic that makes you think your arguments are ‘reasoned’.
But do carry on. You’re very funny.
…can I suggest Bog_R…you’re welcome…
You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Why should he be ashamed?
Maybe it’s his real name as well. Yer man was being pretty nasty to him.
If these are real friends they’d know he doesn’t have these Trump idiot-like views.
I’ll pay you .. I’ll pay you to change your name. I don’t think you’ve ever posted a comment I slightly agree with. The confident smugness of your comment here “Dumb tweet is dumb – how much more money the Govt would have for the health service if the provision of water services were paid for by the user?” grates on me, considering how horrendously incorrect you are. You’re the worst. the absolute worst. Your comment is so deeply deeply wrong that it’s offensive.. and i can see people have stopped trying to reason with you, or explain why you’re wrong, because you always stick to your guns, no matter how wrong your guns are. and they’re ALWAYS wrong. I can’t blame em.. i’m not bothered pointing out the many many mistakes you managed to make in such a short comment. You’re blindingly thick and ya know what? I’d excuse that. some people are born thick and that’s how it is, but it’s the stubborness, in the face of everyone telling you you’re wrong, you adopt a “its not me… its all of them” attitude. thats what gets me.. goin around with my real name, being ignorant and stubborn as possible.
dude has a different opinion to you, calm down
Harry stay out of this. You’ll only ruin it.
U ok hun xx
Actually last week he told us all here that he was currently diagnosed as terminally ill having suffered originally misdiagnosis, terrible communications and low quality care from the HSE. But you know – – ROFLMAO
In that instance, my last comment will seem very glib – apologies.
But I can have a different opinion to you if I want, and free to comment on Broadsheet articles if I want also. Just as you are. If you have a problem with that, that’s unfortunate, but you always going to encounter opinions different than your own, it is just something you have to accept.
15p I agree fully with your comment, which is put far better than I ever could. These people actually sicken me with their cheap, braindead, jibes. I fear for the future when people without conscience or the least regard for others proliferate.
Well said Rob (aka 15p)
@Sheik Yahbouti
All the jibes here are coming from 15p
And it was a dumb tweet.
Whatever you think about IW and its set-up, Much (if arguably not all) of the money spent on it was necessary.
We shouldn’t be choosing between a sensible water utility & health spending. We should have both
@ Sheik
“These people actually sicken me with their cheap, braindead, jibes”
– I find this particular barb strange coming from a person who publishes comments containing bizarre fantasies about the imminent death of the minister for finance.
…heard some woman on the radio saying she wouldn’t trust that young fella to make a dinner never mind run the health service…you have to admit though, he can talk the talk…
How far we’ve come. I seem to remember Charlie Haughey proudly comparing his inability to make a cup of tea to Dr FitzGerald’s effeminate domestic skills.
Harris always looks like he’s genuine and will take actual action soon .. but then never does. The complete FG Minister.
Agreed. A fantastic politician, I do mean that with the upmost disrespect.
Amen to that. ‘Nice’, but ineffectual. Perfect.
No politician takes action. It’s report after review after report until it goes away or there’s another election and it’s someone elses problem. Ain’t no time for action when your riding the gravy train.
It’s funny, Joe public will scream blue murder and say “tis tirribble altogether Joe”, “the Health service Joe” and call for something to be done yet will continue to vote for FG and FF in droves…. nothing will change and nobody really cares
Looking down on them isn’t going to win them over. Anyone who cares about the health service yet still supports FFG is truly ignorant, and you should challenge and persuade them any time you meet one.
Scrap the H.S.E. Re-organise from the top down. Pay the frontline staff decent wages with decent working hours. Cut away the many useless mid managers and pen pushers. Investment in the right areas instead of throwing money at it
You must be new to this?
Unions.
In a nutshell.
Then introduce emergency legislation to ban the unions in the HSE
These are peoples lives we are fupping around with here.
In what way would a PERMANENT public sector strike help the patients?
You seem a bit hysterical dear. Try engaging with the poster and their comments rather than projecting your worst fears and shouting. You will feel a lot better for it.
There wouldn’t be a strike of any kind.
There are plenty more employees to be found in the world just as qualified as our dopes
“There are plenty more employees to be found in the world”
We have chronic staffing shortages already. And they’re allowed to be in a union…
Lord Snowflakee , so you think we could replace 100,000 HSE employees (perhaps only 70,000 if you exclude all the managers)? without difficulty?
Abolishing workplace rights and collective bargaining as a means for more harmony in the health service is the hysterical part, ma’am.
Cian
Why do you think I am suggesting replacing 100,000 employees? I’d keep the good ones. I just want to ban the unions and curb restrictive and unfair bargaining.
As for this bluffer waffling on about collective bargaining … I ‘m not even going to bother
Lord Snowflakee, if you tried to ban unions, there would be an all-out strike. Hence me suggesting you needing to employ 70,000 new people.
It wouldn’t just be 70,000.
ALL workers in all unions would strike in solidarity at union-busting attempts.
How can this country protest and feel like we made a difference in stopping the water charges, yet there’s no similar movement or protest for this?
Maybe taking a few quid out of our pockets is more controversial than knowing that so many of our fellow citizens are in so much pain and anguish…
The Romanians can teach us a thing or two about protests.
…in fairness, a chair and blindfold may be a bit harsh for Harris…
We’ll never make any progress with that kind of attitude.
…it worked for the Romanians…not so much for the Ceaușescus…
i can guarantee that when a politicians kid (or senior HSE manager)has some ailment they wont be sitting in the A&E of Beaumont waiting 6/15/18 months for treatment.
That’s what the beacon’s for, treatment courtesy of redacted
Welcome to health insurance. Nearly half the population has it.
No accountability, due to unions. No ability to rationalise services, due to local “save our hospital” politicians. No investment for a decade due to FF bankrupting country. Aging and expanding population. Booze, obesity, drugs. BOOM!
Sounds deadly
Which union represents the HSE boss? The 9 million sub-bosses? The chairs of hospital groups? The hospital managers? Which union?
Or is it the nurses and midwives we need to sack en masse for the lack of provision of bed spaces and the staff shortage and the trolley crisis and the non-availability of operating theatres and the roll back of home car and step down beds? Fupping nurses.
Is this their union? http://www.pseu.ie/
Much as I detest FG, we must not forget that FF/PD knowingly and wilfully gutted a perfectly adequate health service, sacrificed on the altar of privatisation. FG enthusiastically continued the process, but its original should never be forgotten. Labour stood mute, so their attempts to seek the high moral ground are reprehensible.
Seriously? “a perfectly adequate health service”? When did we ever have an adequate health system?
Believe it or not, it wasn’t always like this.
You are not incorrect. The plan has worked, we are now headlessly running into the arms of the health insurance companies, not because they are a trustworthy bunch of nice fellows..but because of fear for our lives. If a majority in the State went ‘private’ – we will be in the exact same quagmire of barbarism we find ourselves in now.
Compared to the rest of Northern Europe – the management systems and results are barbaric here.
Harris makes an important point. Delivery of service should not be the domain of politicians, it should be for administrators. Irish people simply do not get this. I know first-hand of someone personally phoning a Minister for Health (a previous one) to seek an ICU bed for his mother.
Anyway, ball means blame the political system for the set-up of a system which has in-built inefficiencies (too many hospitals, over-reliance on sole practitioner GPs, etc). But this is not the issue here.
It is the several hundred HSE managers who have €xm to spend and y staff employed and z patients to treat. Are x and y being best used to get z patients treated as quickly as possible? I have no idea.
But I do know that this is a MANAGEMENT issue, not a POLICY issue. Accountability should rest with where the responsibility lies.
Who is in charge of the national management of our healthcare – would that not ultimately be the Minister for Health?
No. The Health Act 2004 says this:
“The Executive [aka the HSE] shall manage and shall deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services in accordance with this Act ”
By all means blame the political system for setting it up this way.
But hundreds of people in the HSE have job descriptions which management and delivery of health and personal social services. This is where accountability should start.
I’m not sure what you are trying to get at here. Is it; Don’t blame Minister for Health for the deliberate shambles of the Health System? Your point on accountability is a valid one, however this is really just common sense which is evidently in short supply at the moment in a lot of our state arms.
The Minister for Health has overall responsibility for the Executive – but I think you know this already.
I bet he got the bed for his Mum though, eh?
I’ve got a bed for his Ma….ah sorry, I couldn’t resist
This is a DESIGN issue.
That the health service continues to fail, and fail in the same way, whether economic boom or economic bust, for DECADES is either on purpose, as decreed by our politicians for some ideological reason – or it’s due to rank incompetence from every party that’s held the brief.
If the design is actually flawless, then the politicians are again wrong for not sacking every HSE manager who’s continued this mess.
Either way you cannot just give our political system a pass here.
I am not suggesting this.
Lots of things are the responsibility of politicians. Lots of things are the responsibility of HSE managers.
There is actually very little overlap.
Except managers are accountable to the politicians ultimately. Their continued failures are failures of the political system to do anything about it.
To a point, yes.
The Public Service Management Act is 20 years old and could do with a lot of improvement.
I think we’ll be waiting a while. I just don’t agree with your kind of ‘system failure’ approach – the system, healthcare or accountability, is working just fine.
A lack of accountability at all levels benefits the politicians. Remember our political culture consists of promotions and large pay rises as punishments for incompetence. John Tierney, Phil Hogan, Kevin Cardiff.
I honestly can’t recall anyone *ever* being sacked or disciplined for non performance.
So managers are accountable to Politicians but employees are not accountable to Managers?
Why is it fair to sack Managers when they can’t sack crap employees?
That’s like blaming the staff at a McDonalds for there being no sausage and egg McMuffins in stock when the management lackies (hse), on instruction from head office/headquarters (FG) are purposely limiting the supply, trying to get you to cough up for an ultra expensive deluxe mcmuffin leaving you with only that option.
You don’t need a Mcmuffin obviously..but that’s how commercial the pr*cks see it.
Which employees are crap do you think? You’re referring to nurses and doctors etc I take it.
That’s who Harris was blaming too on Claire Byrne last night, the weasel.
If I YELL then of course I will get RESPECT
I don’t think he/she is ‘yelling’, simply adding emphasis to his point. It’s only a couple of words in a larger font…at the end of the day n’all n’anyways!
Adding EMPHASIS ?
A real bunch of crap
Who do you think creates policy you waffler?
1 extra S.H.O. per hospital with specific role of processing discharges would halve numbers on trolleys.
they could even get someone on JobBridge to just randomly discharge patients, that would fix the numbers on trolleys.
Change the HSE’s name.
Sorted.
Where’s the money going? You go to any hospital you have 1, maybe 2 MRI machines running 24/7. So you’re on a list.
That’s before you’d find out what’s even wrong with you to go on another list for treatment.
There’s a serious lack of funding for the basics. Where’s the money going?
With Harris blaming the individual hospitals he isn’t helping himself whatsoever and no one believes that bull anyway. I think people know the staff are doing their best.
A dysfunctional health system only turns people needing any treatment into dependants on the state ..it makes no sense to leave people suffering like this, even from a purely economic stance, nevermind a moral one.