Doug Payne

Theatres idle almost 1 week in 4 in east of Ireland

The Republic of Irelands largest health board has said that operating theatres in its major hospitals are idle for almost one week in four. The Eastern Regional Health Authority, which includes Dublin, reported last week that 22% of theatre time is not being used. It attributes the situation to a shortage of trained nurses and poor management of the bed supply. The underuse of theatres is also resulting in the postponement of 145 operations a …

Ireland's measles outbreak kills two

The Republic of Ireland is suffering its worst measles outbreak for seven years as a result of the low uptake of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Uptake of the vaccine is less than 80 The Irish National Disease Surveillance Centre said that more than 1220 cases of measles have been reported this year, compared with just 148 …

Republic of Ireland investigates improperly dumped hospital waste

Local councils across the Republic of Ireland are scrambling to find out if they have sites …

Irish police dismiss Ledward sightings as ?pure fantasy?.

Hospital officials and police in the Republic of Ireland remain sceptical about reports in several British newspapers of sightings of a disgraced English doctor—a year after his death and burial in Ireland. Police in Kent say they are looking into reported anomalies in paperwork related to the death of the gynaecologist, Rodney Ledward, after five former patients reported seeing him in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Ireland. The Irish hospital …

Irish women graduates shun general practice

The latest survey of general medical practice in the Republic of Ireland shows a fall in the number of younger doctors in general practice and a smaller percentage of women GPs than expected. The survey—of 1629 family doctors—was conducted in 2000 by the joint directors of information technology training of the Irish College of General Practitioners. It found that, compared with 1996, the proportion of younger GPs (aged 26-35) had dropped from 17% to 14%, and the proportion of those aged 46–55 …

Ireland announces 30 primary care teams to provide “one stop services” to ease pressures on the hospital system

The Irish government unveiled its long term strategy for the health service this week, saying it aims to provide thousands of new hospital beds, make major structural reforms, and take radical measures to deal with hospital waiting lists. The 208 page document, Quality and Fairness—A Health System for You , marks the beginning of a series of further announcements over a two week period. The main document is to be followed by others on primary health care, how to increase bed capacity, the results of a value for money audit, and a report on care for elderly people. At the centre of the strategy is …

Ireland sets up fund for patients who cannot get insurance

The Irish government is setting up an insurance fund to reduce some of the problems faced by people infected by contaminated blood products in getting insurance. The idea for the fund—of one million Irish pounds (£820 000;

Ireland seeks injunction to prevent opening of new fuel plant at Sellafield

1.2m)—arose after a report commissioned by the Irish health department showed that people infected with hepatitis C through being given anti-D immunoglobulin and patients with haemophilia who contracted HIV from factor VIII …

Irish children may have been given animal vaccine for whooping cough.

The Irish government is intensifying its multipronged attack on the United Kingdoms plans to open a mixed-oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel production plant at Sellafield. It moved to forge a wider alliance with its Nordic counterparts during a conference of Nordic environment ministers in Copenhagen earlier this week. The activity is a separate but parallel action to arbitration proceedings started in June under the OSPAR convention (the Oslo/Paris accord governing protection of marine environments in the north east Atlantic). The proposed plant at Sellafield would reprocess “weapons-grade” plutonium and uranium into MOX fuels for use in nuclear power reactors. The separated material would come from spent fuel that is reprocessed mainly in BNFLs thermal oxide reprocessing plant (THORP), also located at the Sellafield site. Last week the Irish government also launched an …

Couple has the right to refuse test on newborn child

The Irish authorities are again investigating reports related to the bungled administration of child vaccines more than 30 years ago. The drug company involved has promised its full cooperation. It is becoming clear, however, that not only were Irish, and some British, children injected with highly toxic batches of whooping cough vaccine (Trivax), but also some Irish children were injected with an animal drug with a similar name (Tribovax T). It seems that some health experts in the Republic Ireland and the United Kingdom were highly critical of the use of Trivax, but their concerns, and those of parents, were brushed aside. Among the experts was Gordon Stewart, emeritus professor of public health at Glasgow University, who advised the UK Department of …