Emergency help in Ireland

dalazarev

Hi folks,

I'm going to relocate to Ireland with the family (wife and 6 months son).

I've read Irish healthcare has a lack of specialists that's why there are huge delays before you can get emergency help in hospitals and there are long queues to doctors even for money.

We will have VHI or LAYA medical insurance and I'm a bit concerned about this info as I'd like to get immediate help for my child when necessary even for money to avoid risks for his health and life.

Please advise if it is really a problem and is there any way to overcome it?

Thanks!

easygoing1982

dalazarev wrote: »

Hi folks,

I'm going to relocate to Ireland with the family (wife and 6 months son).

I've read Irish healthcare has a lack of specialists that's why there are huge delays before you can get emergency help in hospitals and there are long queues to doctors even for money.

We will have VHI or LAYA medical insurance and I'm a bit concerned about this info as I'd like to get immediate help for my child when necessary even for money to avoid risks for his health and life.

Please advise if it is really a problem and is there any way to overcome it?

Thanks!

Has your son got a certain illness you are concerned about. If your son is sick enough he'll be treated accordingly

dalazarev

No he has not, it's just a precautionary as I read people were waiting in hospital doors in a heavy state for a few days which can lead to bad circumstances.

Typically how long people are waiting for a visit to a doctor? E.g. from what I read people have to wait about a month to visit a dentist, is that the case?

Thanks

Wa? I'm pretty sure i got an appt for smiles dentist in less than a week, at my convenience
If i ring my gp at 9 and say hey can i come in at lunchtime, sure

I have to say, when i needed a referral for an xray, i was very impressed how easy it all was and how impressive the hospital and care was

Stheno

dalazarev wrote: »

No he has not, it's just a precautionary as I read people were waiting in hospital doors in a heavy state for a few days which can lead to bad circumstances.

Typically how long people are waiting for a visit to a doctor? E.g. from what I read people have to wait about a month to visit a dentist, is that the case?

Thanks

Who's telling you that? I rang my doctor at four pm one day for an appointment and got one for an hour later. Generally if you need to see a GP you'll get an appointment the same day.

If you need emergency treatment that your GP can't provide then you go to an emergency department, and while you may wait a few hours, you'll generally get seen far quicker than a few days

I usually get an appointment for the dentist the same day or the next, so I've no idea where you are getting a month long wait from. Where have you been reading this nonsense?

easygoing1982

dalazarev wrote: »

No he has not, it's just a precautionary as I read people were waiting in hospital doors in a heavy state for a few days which can lead to bad circumstances.

Typically how long people are waiting for a visit to a doctor? E.g. from what I read people have to wait about a month to visit a dentist, is that the case?

Thanks

Depends what you mean by dentist. An appointment with a normal dentist shouldn't be any longer than a few days to a week generally speaking. There would be a waiting list to get special dental work in the dental hospital. In regards to time I don't know.

I haven't heard much about the paediatric hospitals around the country. The above would be correct in most central hospitals

Stheno

easygoing1982 wrote: »

Depends what you mean by dentist. An appointment with a normal dentist shouldn't be any longer than a few days to a week generally speaking. There would be a waiting list to get special dental work in the dental hospital. In regards to time I don't know.

I haven't heard much about the paediatric hospitals around the country. The above would be correct in most central hospitals

I certainly don't agree with your last statement., I had to go to one of the busiest emergency departments in the country recently at 7:30 in the evening with (on the basis of one being in serious danger/injury to four being minor/walking wounded) a level four illness as per the explanation in the brackets. I was seen by a triage nurse within 45 minutes, then told there would be a three to four hour wait for some tests to be done.

You can get non routine dental work done in lots of other clinics than the dental hospital

There can be delays with people getting admitted from emergency to wards, perhaps that is what you are both confusing with getting treated

easygoing1982

Stheno wrote: »

I certainly don't agree with your last statement., I had to go to one of the busiest emergency departments in the country recently at 7:30 in the evening with (on the basis of one being in serious danger/injury to four being minor/walking wounded) a level four illness as per the explanation in the brackets. I was seen by a triage nurse within 45 minutes, then told there would be a three to four hour wait for some tests to be done.

You can get non routine dental work done in lots of other clinics than the dental hospital

There can be delays with people getting admitted from emergency to wards, perhaps that is what you are both confusing with getting treated

No confusion. I'm talking from the time you are seen by triage to being seen by A&E doctor. I also base my answer on a Friday to Monday( I find tues-thurs to be quietist) timescale when everyone seem to think the hospital is the place to be with every ailment that they have. I was talking to one person to was waiting 27hrs to be seen in a major hospital in Dublin. I wasn't admitted. He was seen, given pain relief, x-rayed and all this from the triage room to waiting room as there was no trollies in A&E. If he wasn't vomiting in the sick bag, he was using the public toilets attached to the waiting room. I believe he had kidney stones.

Be under no illusion I certainly don't blame the nurses/doctors or support staff. They can only work with the hand they are dealt with.

Stheno

easygoing1982 wrote: »

No confusion. I'm talking from the time you are seen by triage to being seen by A&E doctor. I also base my answer on a Friday to Monday( I find tues-thurs to be quietist) timescale when everyone seem to think the hospital is the place to be with every ailment that they have. I was talking to one person to was waiting 27hrs to be seen in a major hospital in Dublin. I wasn't admitted. He was seen, given pain relief, x-rayed and all this from the triage room to waiting room as there was no trollies in A&E. If he wasn't vomiting in the sick bag, he was using the public toilets attached to the waiting room. I believe he had kidney stones.

Be under no illusion I certainly don't blame the nurses/doctors or support staff. They can only work with the hand they are dealt with.

So you're basing this on Friday evening to Monday morning, when pretty much every GP practice is shut?

easygoing1982

Stheno wrote: »

So you're basing this on Friday evening to Monday morning, when pretty much every GP practice is shut?

Caredoc, ddoc, southeastdoc, northdoc

That's 4 I know of off hand that are there to cover GPs out of hours

Brian?

There's no delay for emergency help. All patients at accident and emergency are treated based on condition. So if you turn up with a less threatening condition, you wait longer.

Emergency dental is simple, same day appointments are no bother in my experience.

Who's giving you this info?

Brian?

easygoing1982 wrote: »

No confusion. I'm talking from the time you are seen by triage to being seen by A&E doctor. I also base my answer on a Friday to Monday( I find tues-thurs to be quietist) timescale when everyone seem to think the hospital is the place to be with every ailment that they have. I was talking to one person to was waiting 27hrs to be seen in a major hospital in Dublin. I wasn't admitted. He was seen, given pain relief, x-rayed and all this from the triage room to waiting room as there was no trollies in A&E. If he wasn't vomiting in the sick bag, he was using the public toilets attached to the waiting room. I believe he had kidney stones.

Be under no illusion I certainly don't blame the nurses/doctors or support staff. They can only work with the hand they are dealt with.

Waiting 27 hours is bad. But he wasn't in a life threatening situation. God knows what the staff had to deal with that caused that delay. Their number priority is to save lives.

easygoing1982

Brian? wrote: »

There's no delay for emergency help. All patients at accident and emergency are treated based on condition. So if you turn up with a less threatening condition, you wait longer.

Emergency dental is simple, same day appointments are no bother in my experience.

Who's giving you this info?

I probably should have stated it as above. With emergency scenarios you will be seen BUT I do know of instances where ambulances have gone to the next hospital as the nearest resus was full. This happened in a Dublin setting so possibly wouldn't have as serious percussions as down the country.

But in fairness the A&Es do be full due to people turning up with colds etc when the GP could easily deal with this but whilst the A&E doc is dealing with this, its having a knock on effect

easygoing1982

Brian? wrote: »

Waiting 27 hours is bad. But he wasn't in a life threatening situation. God knows what the staff had to deal with that caused that delay. Their number priority is to save lives.

Totally agree. I should state I work in a major hospital as a member of support staff to the medical staff.

Brian?

OP, if you're getting health insurance then get VHI. They have "Swift Care" clinics which are handy for non life threatening stuff.

gctest50

Brian? wrote: »

Waiting 27 hours is bad. But he wasn't in a life threatening situation. ......

might be though - kills about 19,000

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23245604

Seamus1964

I broke my leg (fell from ladder) and went to Sligo Hospital ( emergency section ) to seek for a help.
About 7 hours later (waiting ,waiting and waiting a bit more) I did receive help. Friendly staff.
Nothing wrong with Irish healthcare. Absolutely love it.
Feeling sorry about of uninsured Americans tho

mirrorwall14

If you are a full scale emergency you will be seen immediately. I've been through A and E in the last six months with full blown asthma attack. I was through triage and in resuscitation within 5 minutes. Doc arrived promptly and I was on nebulizer and IV steroids within short order. Triage is literally that, you will be seen in order of illness so if you have a cold or a break or something that can wait you will likely end up waiting

Edit to say that this was 3am on a Saturday night

Seamus1964

"Full scale emergency" - is it like a insurance term written in your policy or something?
I have no insurance,never had - thought "emergency" stands for "emergency" ..
Still no complaints. We left a woman with a hard problem behind us waiting for emergency, she's been there on that day before me and left her there after me.
Better her than me

dalazarev

The information is from stories of other immigrants living in Ireland.

Although I believe it all depends on a city and on how accertive you are.

The fact that Emergency help is provided urgently is calming down, but kidney stones is also a danger which cannot wait 27 hours.

E.g. when my wife had kidney pain attack we went to a doc in a private clinic and were treated almost at once (but paid about 100 euro). The healthcare in Russia is free but you often need to wait long. At the same time you can go to a private clinic, pay money and get treated muh faster.

Is it possible in Ireland?

Doom

easygoing1982 wrote: »

Caredoc, ddoc, southeastdoc, northdoc

That's 4 I know of off hand that are there to cover GPs out of hours

Westdoc, ShannonDoc...

mirrorwall14

Seamus1964 wrote: »

"Full scale emergency" - is it like a insurance term written in your policy or something?
I have no insurance,never had - thought "emergency" stands for "emergency" ..
Still no complaints. We left a woman with a hard problem behind us waiting for emergency, she's been there on that day before me and left her there after me.
Better her than me

Everyone in emergency departments are treated the same public or private is irrelevant when you are being triaged in A and E. Having private health insurance does not get you seen faster. It may mean you can be Admitted to a ward if a private bed opens faster but it doesn't affect initial treatment in A and E


If it is not a complete emergency e.g broken bone etc you can use private insurance and money to access swiftcare clinics

Brian?

dalazarev wrote: »

The information is from stories of other immigrants living in Ireland.

Although I believe it all depends on a city and on how accertive you are.

It's zero to do with how assertive you are and a bit to do with where you live. Assertiveness will get you nowhere. All treatment is based on need. People are exaggerating how bad the system is here.

The fact that Emergency help is provided urgently is calming down, but kidney stones is also a danger which cannot wait 27 hours.

E.g. when my wife had kidney pain attack we went to a doc in a private clinic and were treated almost at once (but paid about 100 euro). The healthcare in Russia is free but you often need to wait long. At the same time you can go to a private clinic, pay money and get treated muh faster.

Is it possible in Ireland?

Yes. You got to a GP or VHI swift care and get medical help. You don't got to an A&E. Kidney stones are not life threatening, for the most part.

We do have a malfunctioning health service, but it's nowhere near as bad as you've been lead to believe.

dalazarev

Ok, appreciate your responses - thanks to you all!

nice_guy80

The care in Irish hospitals is as good as anywhere.

Just that the A&E hospitals become overcrowded due to capacity issues

vigos

Just to point out swiftcare clinics are only in Dublin and Cork so if you're planning to relocate to other places in Ireland VHI might be no advantage if that's what you are looking for

dalazarev

vigos wrote: »

Just to point out swiftcare clinics are only in Dublin and Cork so if you're planning to relocate to other places in Ireland VHI might be no advantage if that's what you are looking for

We are going to relocate to Galway. What would be the best choice given that?

I will buy a car so can easily drive to nearest cities.

gctest50

dalazarev wrote: »

We are going to relocate to Galway. What would be the best choice given that?
.....

http://www.galwayclinic.com/pages/view/24


Patients can access our Accident & Emergency Department in a number of different ways:
1. Walk-in without making an appointment between 10am and 7pm
2. Phone-in so we can plan your treatment in advance.
3. GP Referral – contact your GP and your GP will contact us. We will then call you to arrange your appointment.
4. GPs can send patients in via a Private ambulance (phone ER first)

is there

Stheno

dalazarev wrote: »

We are going to relocate to Galway. What would be the best choice given that?

I will buy a car so can easily drive to nearest cities.

Galway is a city and has two hospitals

Are you relocating due to a job?

dalazarev

Stheno wrote: »

Galway is a city and has two hospitals

Are you relocating due to a job?

Yes

Stheno

dalazarev wrote: »

Yes

Do they provide health insurance and assistance relocating? If so they will be able to provide you with lots of information

power pants

lets all stick up for the ridiculous irish health care system

it is widely recognised as ****, its a joke.

Hanley

power pants wrote: »

lets all stick up for the ridiculous irish health care system

it is widely recognised as ****, its a joke.

Define "widely recognised"...

challengemaster

Stheno wrote: »

Galway is a city and has two hospitals

Galway has more than 2 hospitals.

UHG is the main one, Merlin park is linked with UHG. Galway Clinic is private. Bons secours is private.

Stheno

challengemaster wrote: »

Galway has more than 2 hospitals.

UHG is the main one, Merlin park is linked with UHG. Galway Clinic is private. Bons secours is private.

Didn't know that sorry

power pants

Hanley wrote: »

Define "widely recognised"...

haha are you trying to defend it? how absurd. google irish health care and read the list of shambolic failures within the system

Only yesterday on the news, 999 call took 3.5 hours to the person as there was a shortage of ambulances...

its an absolute joke, sure park them up on a trolley and leave them for a few days, they'll be grand so they will :rolleyes:

papu

I've had no problems, broke my collarbone, ambulance came within 10 minutes , I was waiting a while for an x-ray about an hour, but the nurses were all lovely and looked after me just grand.
It is true that the ambulance system is nuts, they only service one A&E at a time, so even if you're a stone throws away from a hospital the ambulance could have to bring you across town. I know that's in Dublin , I don't know about Galway.

Alf Veedersane

power pants wrote: »

it is widely recognised as ****, its a joke.

There's a difference between being sh*t and being short on resources.

dalazarev

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

There's a difference between being sh*t and being short on resources.

Short on resources stands for someone dies before getting help

Stheno

dalazarev wrote: »

Short on resources stands for someone dies before getting help

Seriously you need to get a grip the Irish Healthcare system is not as catastropphic as you appear to be making it out.

If you want a comparison see all the online reports about the NHS in the UK

Alf Veedersane

dalazarev wrote: »

Short on resources stands for someone dies before getting help

No it doesn't and it's the non-emergency cases affected.

If you have an emergency you will be well looked after.

dalazarev

Stheno wrote: »

Seriously you need to get a grip the Irish Healthcare system is not as catastropphic as you appear to be making it out.

If you want a comparison see all the online reports about the NHS in the UK

After all the comments I think it is good enough, there is no ideal system in the world!

Stheno

dalazarev wrote: »

After all the comments I think it is good enough, there is no ideal system in the world!

Good, indeed there is not, and the Irish system is not perfect, but it's not the worst either

gctest50

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Originally Posted by dalazarev
Short on resources stands for someone dies before getting help

No it doesn't.

If you have an emergency you will be well looked after.

No it doesn't.

If you have an emergency you get to play the A&E lottery

dalazarev

gctest50 wrote: »

No it doesn't.

If you have an emergency you get to play the A&E lottery

Please explain?

Alf Veedersane

gctest50 wrote: »

No it doesn't.

If you have an emergency you get to play the A&E lottery

Yeah, that's a pretty fair reflection alright

ted1

gctest50 wrote: »

No it doesn't.

If you have an emergency you get to play the A&E lottery

Define emergency, if it's s genuine emergency involving life or death you will be dealt with straight away. It's a triage system

nice_guy80

The Irish healthcare system is quite good. Having experienced plenty of foreign health systems.

if you have an accident and need emergency care generally you will get treated very quickly. If you are paying PRSI, it will cost you very little.

the problems start if you need elective care through the public health system. Waiting lists to see the specialists

If you have the likes of VHI, then you'll be fine.

the big problem with A&E is people presenting with non-emergency cases and there are no hospital beds available.
also, a lot of people have medical cards who generally have poor health and see nothing wrong with going to the A&E for any complaint

gctest50

dalazarev wrote: »

Please explain?

A&E lottery :

will the staff be too tired to work out what's wrong with you before you die

Stheno

nice_guy80 wrote: »

The Irish healthcare system is quite good. Having experienced plenty of foreign health systems.

if you have an accident and need emergency care generally you will get treated very quickly. If you are paying PRSI, it will cost you very little.

the problems start if you need elective care through the public health system. Waiting lists to see the specialists

If you have the likes of VHI, then you'll be fine.

the big problem with A&E is people presenting with non-emergency cases and there are no hospital beds available.
also, a lot of people have medical cards who generally have poor health and see nothing wrong with going to the A&E for any complaint

Agreed I had a dreadful accident in Malta, and was fully covered for treatment and they completely misdiagnosed the issue.

Came back here, went private and within a week was on the right treatment

gctest50 wrote: »

A&E lottery :

will the staff be too tired to work out what's wrong with you before you die

Stats to back up cases like this?

gctest50

Stheno wrote: »

.........

Stats to back up cases like this?

somethings causing the "excess" f*ckups and deaths :

.....the Minister for Health outlined that more than €197m has been paid out in the past three years for claims against the HSE

• €64 million in 2011.
• €47 million in 2012.
• €85 million in 2013.