James Reilly

Floppybits · 21-10-2013 11:30am #1

Just thought I would start a thread to discuss James Reilly's handling of health. Im not fan of FG, FF or Labour or Reilly but I do believe that the Health portfolio is a poisoned chalice considering the mess that the health service is in, which was caused by successive governments mishandling of the service and also vested interests who are milking the system.

I also think he was stabbed in the back by labour in the last budget but he also hasn't helped things with the some of the decisions he has made.

So folks is Reilly being unfairly treated?

raymon · 21-10-2013 12:38pm

No fan of Reilly , but Michael Martin leading the charge on this ? Really ?

Michael Martin was one of the worst ministers for health ever. He created the HSE .

Martin talking about the health service is more cynical FF amnesia. It disgusts me.

What's next? Willie speaking out against perjury .

Having said that I think Reilly has a lot of work to do . I disagree with free gp visits for rich children. I think we need clarity on who will get to keep medical cards.

one foot in the grave · 21-10-2013 2:01pm

Michael Martin, as Minister for Health from 2000-2004, introduced a ban on tobacco smoking, disbanded the health boards and established the HSE, and in particular oversaw serious steps to improve cancer and cardiac services, with e.g. delivery of the first National Cancer Strategy.

As CEO, Professor Drumm (at the time Head of the Department of Paediatrics at University College Dublin and Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist at Our Lady's Children¿s Hospital in Dublin) led the largest public service Transformation Programme ever undertaken in Ireland.

Now it hasn't been easy and certainly has it's flaws. I'm not suggesting that the HSE is perfect but I am suggesting as a model, it can work in this country when there is a separation of power between the Government of the day and the body that is responsible for the delivery of health services.

Had politicians continued to drive the health service before the establishment of the HSE, we'd continue to have a hospital in every town, with inefficient and fractured services. Not e.g. Centres of Excellence for Cancer Care where an abnormal CXR or breast lump can get you an appointment in a rapid access clinic within two to four weeks.

It's also worth noting that according to the 2009 and 2012 Euro Health Consumer Index, the country's health service is currently ranked 13th out of 33 European health services, ahead of Germany.

This marks a significant improvement since the survey in 2006, when Ireland was listed in 28th place out of 29 nations included.

one foot in the grave · 21-10-2013 2:04pm

Floppybits wrote: »

Just thought I would start a thread to discuss James Reilly's handling of health. Im not fan of FG, FF or Labour or Reilly but I do believe that the Health portfolio is a poisoned chalice considering the mess that the health service is in, which was caused by successive governments mishandling of the service and also vested interests who are milking the system.

I also think he was stabbed in the back by labour in the last budget but he also hasn't helped things with the some of the decisions he has made.

So folks is Reilly being unfairly treated?

No, he's not. Minister Reilly has a the job of "reforming" the healthcare system, UHI etc to be implemented. Yet has not completed the White Paper (the blueprint) for UHI. This was promised in the first term of FG in office. Ya gotta ask what exactly the plan is. I believe we've been moving quite swiftly to a US style system for some time. Isn't the evidence pointing in that direction?

Criteria used by the Minister to date when it came to selection of Primary Care Centres, upgrades for some hospitals, direction of funds, has not been transparent. And is concerning. As is the worrying lack of debate on the Health (Amendment) Bill 2013.

Why did HSE CEO Cathal Magee resign a year and a half ago?

"Mr Magee, who announced last month that he was resigning, warned that guidance was required from Health Minister James Reilly and his department on what action to take on cost overruns and big shortfalls in hospital budgets.

He wrote a number of letters to the department explaining the dire state of the health service's finances and the need for the minister to make policy decisions on cutbacks.

Mr Magee accused the department of failing to act as the financial problems of the health services became even worse.

He asked the department to explain to him how cutting back activity in the health services would tally with the demands to increase patient throughput to achieve targets on reducing waiting lists and the numbers of patients on trolleys."

Roisin Shortall saw what was happening.

http://www.herald.ie/news/hse-boss-tells-reilly-to-sort-out-cash-crisis-28014248.html

Lemming · 21-10-2013 2:08pm

one foot in the grave wrote: »

Now it hasn't been easy and certainly has it's flaws. I'm not suggesting that the HSE is perfect but I am suggesting as a model, it can work in this country when there is a separation of power between the Government of the day and the body that is responsible for the delivery of health services.

The HSE is a shambles; and the problem is nothing to do with separation of powers. The core problem (imo) is accountability. Or lack thereof. This problem goes right back to the inception of the HSE under Martin's "stewardship". The expression "Too many chiefs, not enough Indians" springs to mind as a very accurate analogy to describe accountability within the HSE.

one foot in the grave · 21-10-2013 2:12pm

Lemming wrote: »

The HSE is a shambles; and the problem is nothing to do with separation of powers. The core problem (imo) is accountability. Or lack thereof. This problem goes right back to the inception of the HSE under Martin's "stewardship". The expression "Too many chiefs, not enough Indians" springs to mind as a very accurate analogy to describe accountability within the HSE.

It ain't perfect but it's not a shambles. James may have been saying that since 2007 when he was elected a TD but the evidence doesn't support it.

That he, as Minister in Health has been found to have interferred with selection process of PCC's and upgrades of hospitals, speaks volumes. His criteria is political. The criteria in the HSE based on need.

Floppybits · 21-10-2013 2:13pm

raymon wrote: »

No fan of Reilly , but Michael Martin leading the charge on this ? Really ?

Michael Martin was one of the worst ministers for health ever. He created the HSE .

Martin talking about the health service is more cynical FF amnesia. It disgusts me.

What's next? Willie speaking out against perjury .

Having said that I think Reilly has a lot of work to do . I disagree with free gp visits for rich children. I think we need clarity on who will get to keep medical cards.

Raymon, I feel the same way about Martin as well, the minister for reports about reports when he was in Health.

I also dont like this free GP visits for all under 5's, I would prefer to see incremental charges for GP visits with a maximum that GP's charge for a visit. Such as 10 euro maximum charge for under 5's, 15 euro from 6 - under 10's and so on up the scale to a maximum of 50 euro's per adult with other scales for students and also scales for OAP's similar to the charges a lot of other businesses have.

Also the way the medical card issue is being handled by the HSE is a complete nightmare, medical cards been taken from people who need them and medical card with people who don't and who are dead.

Why is it that we cant do record keeping at all in the public service from the HSE not able to manage medical cards, to the local authorities not able to manage the electoral role and everything else in between? But thats another thread.

AlanG · 21-10-2013 2:22pm

All the opposition ever do is call for these ministers to resign but only Harney and Reilly have ever really put themselves forward as wanting the hardest job in Irish politics. Martin was a waste and threw unsustainable money at problems. Gerry Adams was on Newstalk this morning saying that no one has an unwarranted medical card – he didn’t even go back on this when it was mention that GPs are being paid for people who have emigrated but still have their medical cards. The opposition will promise an A & E in every town. Gerry would be the bankers best friend with all the money he would have the country borrowing.
O’Reilly seems to be doing a reasonable job considering they can’t cut wages or let staff go under the national pay agreements. He perhaps should argue his corner more strongly with some of the policies that are forcing people off health insurance to become more reliant on the public system.

raymon · 21-10-2013 3:20pm

one foot in the grave wrote: »

This marks a significant improvement since the survey in 2006, when Ireland was listed in 28th place out of 29 nations included.

Exactly, the 2006 results are going to be bad . Michael Martin ran the health service into the ground between 2000-2004.

He then replaced layers of managers and administrators with more HSE managers and administrators on huge pay.

Martin should resign immediately for the HSE high salary executive he created that took money from sick people and gave it to his highly paid HSE executives and managers.

Floppybits · 21-10-2013 3:42pm

The HSE concept was not a bad concept the problem was and always is a problem in this country is that the it was implimented badly. The decision to keep all the staff on from all the health boards has to be one of the worst decisions in the history of the state, right up there with the bank gaurentee. When the HSE was formed it was the perfect time to give those surplus to requirements a redundancy package as at the time the ecomnoy was booming and I reckon half of the people in the positions at that time would have gladly taken a redundancy package or early retirement and we are seeing the consequences of that decision today in the HSE.

As for James Reilly, I do think he has the toughest job in the government and I think his lack of political experience is leaving him open to be taken advantage of by the more experienced politicians especially those in the labour party. What Reilly needs is a guiding hand on how to defend his patch because from seeing what happened in the budget he doesn't seem to be doing a good job of that and thats why you have the likes of Howlin dictating cuts like he did in the budget without consulting the minister. I dont think Reilly's bessie mate Enda is the guiding hand he needs because lets face it Enda has been in the Dail for 30 years or so and never did anything and the only reason why he is leader is because there was no one else.

Godge · 21-10-2013 4:46pm

There are 1.9 million medical cards in a population of 4 million.

That figure is difficult to understand and justify. On the one hand, if only the rich were to pay for health care, the number of medical cards should be around 3.5 million. On the other, if only the really poor were to get medical cards, there should be less than 1 million.

The level of medical cards, approaching half the population, leaves us with a system that just cannot be fair.

hatrickpatrick · 21-10-2013 5:03pm

He has to go.
He should have gone when that whole Primary Care Centre incident came to light, and the fact that he didn't is, in my view, one more indication that the political class is more concerned with protecting their own than with doing what's right. He should have been kicked out of the cabinet over that, and in my view it reflects pretty badly on everyone stood behind him when they could have helped to oust him, right up to and including Enda.

James Reilly

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