Sick of this country

Bass Reeves

Biggest issue with A&E is virtually everything has to go through it to access hospital services.

If you want a small would stitched or an X-ray on a sprained wrist you have to go through A&E. 20+ years ago doctors would put a few steri serious or stitches if required. Now off to A&E.

We need significant change in triage protocols. Older patients with recurring issue should be redirected directly to the service they require. If they require an IV antibiotic why do they need to go to A&E.

UHL turned into a disaster because 3-4 other A&E's were closed and everything redirected to the UHL A&E.

When the local health centers gey up and running it may improve.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121563736#Comment_121563736

Yes, based on a fairly sensible accounting policy, they maintain sensible reserves:

In accordance with the Council's financial strategy the designated reserves have been established as a contingency reserve to cover any significant costs arriving from legal challenge to any part of the Teaching Council Acts, 2001 to 2015 and from any of the Council's rulings. In accordance with the Council's accounting policy where such funds are no longer required they will be released back to the General Reserve

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564276#Comment_121564276

Well you could take that view. An alternative view, the one I take, is that for many years they have been deliberately overcharging teachers.

OrangeBadger

Maybe the OP and his wife can move into the house his parents aren't bothering to rent in Dublin, no rent would be handy, sound job when the parents own multiple homes in Dublin and don't even need to rent them

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121563917#Comment_121563917

And again you think that does not happen else where? Most of the complaints I read here are coming from people who have no experience of having to access healthcare, social services, find care for an elderly person, incapacity, pay taxes etc in any other country for an extended period of time. They just assume it is better every where else.

The only issue I have not heard from anyone on here so far is pensioners being forced to move to a cheaper part of Europe because they can’t manage to live in Ireland. Or people having to go to an old folks home in Thailand because its too expensive in Ireland. Because that is now becoming more and more common here.

I took early retirement and now volunteer providing financial advice to people in difficult and there are plenty of them here. There is nothing as gut wrenching as having to explain to a couple in say their early seventies that they will not be able to live out their days in the country where they have lived all their lives because they are just “rich enough” not to qualify for social services, put poor enough that they can’t pay their way!

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564470#Comment_121564470

I'm in my 40's and it terrifies me that I'll be screwed when i retire. I'm already thinking I'll have to hold it off as long as possible, hopefully until I'm 70. Thing is if the economy was at the same place it was 10 years ago, I'd be able to afford it. But in the last 10 years everything has fallen off a cliff edge. And the main thing is accommodation.

I at least have a chance to prepare for it. My retirement is over 20 years away. I still have a chance to get **** in order. There are people closer to that age, or who have already retired who are screwed.

zell12

Hopefully, age-based euthanasia will be legalised by then 😉

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564121#Comment_121564121

By far the biggest problem in Irish healthcare is the access point at A&E. Otherwise outcomes from the healthcare system here compare favourably with most. I cant help but feeling it is vested interests that prevent this from changing.

murpho999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121563416#Comment_121563416

Whilst I understand that A&E has serious issues, there's no need to blame immigration on it.

The problems with A&E have been there for at least 30 years now. At first it was to do with money and investment. Now that has been partly fixed and problems persist and it's mostly due to the two tier system and poor management.

But of course blame it on immigration and forecast doom for the future. What about blaming the HSE and Irish government and politicians?

What about campaigning for reform of the system and future proofing for 20 years time rather than just scapegoat immigrants for future problems?

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121562417#Comment_121562417

I'm sure.

However we need to be realistic - like I say I have no issue with us taking our fair share - but we need to set limits based on how much we can afford. We can't take in tens or hundreds of thousands and pay them equal or better than the highest social welfare rate, and do so indefinitely. We're a small tax base which is already struggling with a number of alleged "crises".

A&E is an absolute nightmare. Sitting over 15 hours in a chair in agony and shaking chills with peritonitis caused initially by a medical misadventure in same hospital was my relatively recent experience. Then when I got to a ward I ended up being denied any form of hydration for over a day.

I have rapidly advancing multiple sclerosis and simply trying to exist with it is an absolute nightmare as there is a very ableist attitude in Ireland. I have travelled all 7 continents and honestly Ireland is the worst of the developed countries for trying to cope with a mobility problem. A middle aged man on my quiet estate tried to mow me down aggressively for being too slow crossing the road, there is a sad intolerance of disability with a cohort in my lived experience.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564616#Comment_121564616

Local Injury Units are a game changer in this regard.

I attended one on a Sunday morning with a foot injury.

Triaged by a nurse, checked by doctor, x-ray done, back to doctor, fitted with an ortho boot and given a prescription.

Total time away from home including getting prescription filled 2 hours.

Got a call from the clinic doctor on Monday when a consultant had reviewed the x-ray and report sent to my GP.

One satisfied patient and one less suffering the long A and E wait.

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564671#Comment_121564671

Especially if you are disabled but don't "look disabled". My partner has a similar endemic condition to MS - at one point they thought it was MS - and has good days and bad days. On a bad day even retaining verticality can be difficult without fainting. On a good day she can walk unaided. Good days can change to bad and vice versa. The glares we get if she has to park in a blue badge spot in her late thirties because even the walk to the door and back could result in hours needed to recover. Again, depending on the day.

There are some awful preconceived notions in Ireland around disability. It seems mainly an anglophone thing for some reason. US, UK, here, I've seen the same, but not in France or Germany

Brussels Sprout

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564643#Comment_121564643

Yeah I think it's fair to partly problems in housing and school places on immigration but not the crisis in healthcare. If it weren't for immigration the HSE would have collapsed by now considering so many of the staff in hospitals and care homes come from abroad.

Gussoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564940#Comment_121564940

Yet at the same time we have newly qualified nurses emigrating to places like Australia.

StormForce13

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564367#Comment_121564367

Maybe or maybe not. Maybe his parents don't want to give him (or his partner) tenancy rights of he moves into one of their properties. Or maybe it's in an inconvenient location for his workplace. Or maybe he doesn't want to pay BIK tax if he lives there rent-free. Plenty of conjecture there to play with. The key thing is that the fact that his parents (like may other Irish landlords) have a property that they don't want to rent out because of the anti-landlord regulatory régime in Ireland.

But the fact that his parents own more than one property doesn't in any way discount, dilute or invalidate any of the criticisms that he made.

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564965#Comment_121564965

But immigration is still the backbone of the health service.

arctictree

One of the more simpler solutions for Health is to train more doctors and nurses. And when I say more, I mean 100% more, not the minor amounts that politicians publicise each year and get praise for. Its not like we would have a lack of students as access to these courses is way oversubscribed. More staff would lead to better conditions, less stress, better outcomes etc, all the things that current professionals complain about....

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564816#Comment_121564816

Yes, I agree, I always attend those clinics for minor injuries and pee should always consider attending them where appropriate.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121563416#Comment_121563416

The 15 - 20 hour wait is par for the course in St Vincent’s University Hospital. Horrible place. Sometimes after the long wait you might strike it lucky and get admitted as a public patient to the lovely private hospital with your own room, very edible food, own bathroom and you will be given hydration and proper care.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121563917#Comment_121563917

Last time I was admitted to SVUH I needed a CT scan but they were going to hold me in a bed for up to a week simply to have that scan. I discharged myself and went to a private hospital instead, had to wait all day and pay over €695 mind, but I was miserable, occupying a bed when it really wasn’t needed. I got the scan result same day and started on treatment immediately which I took at home. It was a dreadful inefficiency holding me in a valuable public bed.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564837#Comment_121564837

My disability is very visible now, but when I had relapsing rebutting MS phase I was hiding my inadequate balance, especially coming down stairs. Part of my MS is like the dysautonomia that affects your partner, you could walk a bit then collapse and faint. I’ve had to beg to get to the top of queues otherwise I would end up in an ambulance. Very hard to explain to others how your nervous system can let you down in the most peculiar and invisible ways. Neurology is not well catered for at all in this country.

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565127#Comment_121565127

Why though? they'd still leave. And it's because of housing. Nurses can barely afford to live in Ireland. There's staff in the rotunda who find it cheaper to commute from spain.

And I know doctors who can't afford to live in Dublin.

NSAman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564470#Comment_121564470

Well Jim, I live in America, Ireland and have dealt with other systems internationally. NONE and I mean NONE are as badly organised as Ireland. Simple experience of the system here 50 minutes for an ambulance for example, hospital information being lost when transfers health clinic/doctor, hospital records being lost ….are utterly unacceptable. Do I blame staff? Mostly no I do not. The system does not work as it should.

no system is perfect, but Irelands mon-fri 9to5 attitude to healthcare has to stop. It’s NOT an easy job, we all know, but no one is addressing the glaring holes of inefficiency, the total disorganisation, the total waste of resources and the total lack of resources at the coalface, when billions a year are wasted on high paid managers. 6 HSE’s combined yet not one cost saving made, now it is proposed to re-introduce seperate HSEs AGAIN? It is sheer incompetence!

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565958#Comment_121565958

Family member went to SVUH ED with a head injury a few months back. They got bloods, ECG and CT scan over 7-8 hour period before being sent home.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121566306#Comment_121566306

Family member was in public Cardiac unit in Connolly over the summer. They had a detailed review with the cardiac consultant on the Sunday morning, over half an hour of discussion.

The Mon-Fri attitude was nowhere to be seen.

Please don't be suggesting that the US health system is the model we should be following. They'll leave you to die on the streets if you don't have insurance to pay for your healthcare there. Look out for all the GoFundMe appeals on social media from US citizens looking to pay their basic healthcare bills. Medical bills are a factor in two thirds of bankruptcies in the USA.

How did you work out that there was "Not one cost saving" in the setup of the HSE btw?

Podge_irl

Doctors already provide 24 hour 7 day a week care. Not all support functions do however.

This is something that is being worked on with new contracts (moving to a 6 day rotation and stopping private work in public hospitals), but you also can't just force people to sign new contracts. It's a slow moving process.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121566306#Comment_121566306

Removing and reintroducing different layers of segregation and management is something private companies do with extreme frequency for what it's worth. It is not inherently a sign of incompetence.

csirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121561042#Comment_121561042

Obviously you've no recent experience of having to wait 14hrs in A&E in a childrens hospital.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564121#Comment_121564121

The quick clinic with private health insurance should be used a lot more. It seems a lot of people prefer to go to hospital than using the facilities that are available.

Like how many people with health insurance use the online doctors instead of trying to book with the local GP for a sniff?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121567111#Comment_121567111

I have gone to Childrens hospital multiple times over the years, never had anything close to 14hrs wait. I do notice a lot of the time a lot of childern in the A&E which in reality don't need to be in a hospital. GP etc would be better to take care of them

Maybe I was lucky