IMO chief: Govt ignoring doctors on health service problems
Solutions proposed by doctors to tackle the problems plaguing the health service continue to be ignored by the Government, it was claimed today.
George McNeice, chief executive of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), said the Government’s strategy to alleviate the crisis in the health service appears to blame health professionals rather than leading a process of change.
“For many years, the IMO has proposed solutions to the problems in the health service. However, instead of being listened to, we – and other health professionals – are being unfairly blamed for service inadequacies and deficits defects,” Mr McNeice told doctors gathered at the IMO’s annual general meeting in Killarney, Co Kerry.
“The strategy of the Government seems to be merely to blame doctors instead of leading a change process. This will achieve nothing.”
Mr McNeice said the solution to the health services problems requires an alliance between Government, the Health Service Executive, doctors and other staff.
He claimed the Government’s lack of willingness to fund appropriate infrastructural developments had stopped General Practice from delivering its full potential.
“No serious attempt has been made by the HSE to introduce a properly resourced public health out-of-hours service and this is hugely worrying in the context of the various existing and potential national and international threats, like SARS in the past and the threat of avian flu,” he said.
“The IMO has made a proposal to the employers which would facilitate the introduction of an interim out-of-hours service. The challenge now is for the employers to make a serious response to the IMO’s proposal.
“The threatened withholding of the next national pay increase from Directors of Public Health and Specialists in Public Health Medicine as a means of forcing them to participate in an unworkable and under-resourced out-of-hours service is unacceptable to the IMO and will not achieve its aim.”
He said doctors were not the problem but part of the solution.
“No successful outcome will be achieved unless what we say is listened to. Engage with us and we will continue to be as committed to the change process as anyone,” he said.
The chief executive of the union, which represents 6,000 people, said it was difficult to see how the A&E crisis could be solved without addressing the issue of bed capacity.
“In that context, it is invidious for the state to provide tax breaks to private hospitals when taxes foregone could have been invested in public hospital facilities where they are urgently needed,” he said.
Mr McNeice said the organisation’s vision for a new model of working for non consultant hospital doctors involved allowing them to undertake training and education while still undertaking the full range of clinical duties.
“Locum provision is essential in hospitals if NCHDs are to optimise their training opportunities and for services to continue in their absence. I cannot stand over the practice of calling NCHDs back from their annual leave to cover nights on call because management has not looked for replacements. This has resulted in NCHDs working 48 hours and more during their holidays,” he said.
