€1bn Extra for Health!

PH01

€1bn extra on health

Well it that time of year again. Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, Please pump another billion into Health. OK it doesn't rhyme, but neither does the Health service.

Mary Harney has got herself an extra billion to sort out the Health. And she's going to need it and some. For the next six months are going to be pivotal, both for the health of the nation, and the Government.

And it's not getting off to a great start with Professor Aidan Halligan’s decision to turn down the opportunity to headup and reform the health service. In January, the now rudderless Health Services Executive will be up an running. They are to take over from the Health Boards. So, it appears currently that things are about to hit the fan!

Mary Harney and the PDs aren't going to like this. And if things go wrong it might be the straw that breaks the Governments back?

bonkey

the article wrote:

The health package will be part of a new Government focus on addressing social issues

My god....maybe bertie really is a Socialist!

OK...call be a skeptic, but there's an election sometime soon, right?

jc

Villain

Reform has to achieved along with senisble investment, short term problems like A&E's and the shortage of beds need to be sorted out first, then they need to look at the root of the problems, e.g. a big reason why A&E's are so crowded is because people can't afford to go to their GP so they attend A&E instead, (any sign of those 200,000 extra medical cards anywhere?).

People will probably disagree saying that theres no point just throwing money at short term problems, but you wouldn't say that if a relative was lying on a trolley in a hospital for the last few days.

If Harney doesn't get some kind of a turnaround FF will simply blaim her and the PD's and that could break the Government.

bonkey

irish1 wrote:

People will probably disagree saying that theres no point just throwing money at short term problems,

Not me. I would only disagree throwing money in the absence of a clear plan as to how that money will be spent, what problems it will solve, and so on.

Maybe I'm out of touch, but the last time I heard Ms. Harney talking about this subject she was making vague noises, saying that it was unquestionabe that more money would be needed in the short term, but didn't have a specific plan on how much, for what, for how long, and so on.

Maybe she has that....but I'm skeptical.

but you wouldn't say that if a relative was lying on a trolley in a hospital for the last few days.

I might.

There are two reasons a realtive might be doing that :

1) The government hasn't spent the necessary money
2) The government hasn't spent the necessary money correctly.

I have no interest in seeing a government move from item 1 to item 2 on that list, which is what was realistically what was done with a lot of health-care in the past number of years where our Celtic Tiger economy permitted the good aul' "throw money at the problem" approach that posters like Cork often like to triumph as our govenrment having increased expenditure on health more than any other.

Whether or not Harney's extra 1bn will be any different....I really don't know. I'm somewhat skeptical, but - at the same time - somewhat hopeful that a lot of the negatives of the past decade are actually part of the pain of fixing the problem, rather than part of the growing problem.

jc

Xterminator

irish1 wrote:

Reform has to achieved along with senisble investment, short term problems like A&E's and the shortage of beds need to be sorted out first, then they need to look at the root of the problems, e.g. a big reason why A&E's are so crowded is because people can't afford to go to their GP so they attend A&E instead, (any sign of those 200,000 extra medical cards anywhere?).
.

Medical cards arent the solution either.

In my experience people with medical cards overuse their local GP's, calling in for antibiotics when not needed, calling in with colds and flu, when a pharmacy solution is more appropiate. This adds to overcrowding at that are too. No sense in just shifting the waiting area.

I think the figures show that average medical card holder attends their gp 3 times more often than non medical card holders. Even given that non medical card holdera are probably putting off going to GP for money reasons at times, it still is over used. This is also shown by the fact a lot of doctors wont take any more medical card patients. They are happy to take fee paying pateints though.

I belive a small fee of 10 euro for an private patient, and 5 euro for medical card holders to see the doctor, would be better solution.

X

stevenmu

The budget for health has increased hugely over the last 5-10 years and yet the service has steadily declined. I don't think another billion is going to make any difference at all. It brings to mind that saying about throwing good money after bad. It think it works out that roughly €3,000-€4,000 (€13billion / 4million) a year per person is spent on the health service, personally I want a refund !