Apologies if there's a thread already on this but I couldn't find it. Just talking to someone last night who works in a hospital and some of the things this person told me sickened me. The minister for health visited an A+E last week and before he got there,the line manager made staff take people who'd been on trolleys for up to 24 hours and put them back in the waiting room. These were sick people who were maybe in pain,been taken away from the little bit of comfort they may have got from a trolley,and being made to suffer in a waiting room because management didn't want the minister to see the shit state the department was actually in. Reminds you of what went on with the banks. There was another incident that appalled and baffled me that happened in the same department last week that for a few reasons I don't think appropriate to post about yet. But the fact is there's probably stuff like that happening all over the country. Everyone on here would have dealings or have a relative who has had with hospitals and have their own story to tell. What's obvious though is that the people running these hospitals would rather keep the true extent of the problems from being known rather than have to account for the way things are run and how badly funds were mis-managed when there was money there. And in the end,as usual,the people who suffer are the general public. I also have a lot of sympathy for the front line staff who have a thankless job,especially given the conditions they're forced to work under.
It's the Irish Health system, everything it does is counter productive. It's a joke. But as long as you have pockets filled with cash, you'll be fine. I'd love to be locked in a room with some of these people, they sicken me. I have the utmost respect for the front line workers however. It's not their fault. But yet they take most of the flak,.
Who are these people? Everyone seems to blame someone else. It used to be Harney but not any more I'm not having a go at babbsnads mate but surely in that situation you just say NO. Its not Nazi Germany these people are working in, passing on responsability will get us nowhere. As much I think the new government are tools, I actually think they will try and sort out our health system once and for all but they can't do that if the truth is kept from them.
I would have thought this myself let the ministers see the full extent of the problem and then we might see some action. Then again if the line manager is getting them put back to reception just covering his own incompetence.
The people that are keeping the truth. As you say, trying to cover their own incompetence, these are the people making the decisions within the hospitals. Getting rid of Harney was a massive step forward (Pun not intended) The whole system is a joke, and I'm sure there is someone at every level who rightly deserves blame.
I know what you're saying about staff just saying no but these aren't doctors or nurses,they are attendants with a very small amount of medical qualifications and you can be sure there's plenty of reasons that can be made up to do with health or safety issues as to why they wanted those people put back in the waiting room. Although common sense tells them the reason they were asked to move the patients,realistically they could be sacked for refusing if a senior doctor or nurse claims it was for a certain issue. To mislead the government on the scale of a problem is definitely counter productive but so was the banks lying about the scale of the problems facing them. It's about covering your own arse and hoping you can figure it out before the arse falls out of it. Hospitals have to take a lot of the blame for the state they're in now because they spent for too much of their budgets in the wrong areas. There were scenarios left,right and centre where departments were creating more clerical or middle management jobs because if their budgets weren't spent they'd be reduced for the next year. Maybe the current government can sort it out but that situation I was talking about is one of probably hundreds all over the hospitals and Hse where people who made bad decisions could try and find a way of disguising them or covering them up,and unless the government tackle the arse covering culture that's prevalent in Ireland in general,then they haven't got a hope.
Wife is expecting our first over here, and whilst we have plans to go back home in the future, we have always said that we wait until we all our baby making out of the way first, the healthcare system just works. She's just gone six months, had 4 routine ultrasounds already, around 12-15 different blood tests, half a dozen OBGYN appointments etc. From the time you concieve, through to birth, and even getting the snip for myself in a few years eek, everything is covered under the provincial (state) healthcare. And to be honest, when I talk to my parents, or brother with his young girl at home, and hear about the state of things, it really annoys the piss out of me.
10 years ago this thread is from and while Coronavirus has drawn more attention than normal to it I'm still amazed that you could probably take every issue that existed here and it would still be as bad or worse. It's not just anecdotal evidence either, European agencies always have us as close to the worst for health service yet we spend proportionally per Capita in line with the highest on the continent (not GDP but per head). Does anyone know the genuine reasons why we are always so bad? We blame politicians but it's always seen as the poison chalice, why is that? I'm genuinely interested in the possible answer to the real reason if anyone has any answers. If it's political incompetence I'd be interested in what exactly they've done wrong because I genuinely only ever hear that the Govt. have made a mess of it but never really have any grasp for what they're doing wrong because surely they're not spending a fortune to try and keep it awful.
I don't think a government that took over relatively close to when this thread started, had any hope of having the health service fixed by now. But as you say,it's worse and whatever the issues, the buck has to stop with them. There's always certain areas that you have to put politics aside and always try to do what's right. Health is one of those areas but that hasn't happened,not even close. The list of issues with it will be massive.
It's nearly like the health system needs a total reset. Seems to be many in system with a job that is not actually helping the system or patients. Nurses and doctors worked off the feet and not getting the necessary help. Does this come from Paul Reid? Or individual hospitals heads? Our experience from maternity side is totally different. They know wat they are doing eg fast blood tests, blood pressure etc. And seen to very prompt compared to a and e.
No one will be in power long enough to fix it. It’s all short term fixes to get over a crisis. Any long term projects goes miles over budget and start cycle again
Look at who one of most recent minister for health works for now and its not hard to figure out where the money goes.
Awful lot of the hse budget goes on salaries. There are huge amounts of administrative staff in the hse(not the administrative staffs fault) If the hse can lower staff at administrative level they can use savings to improve nurses salaries thus attracting more nurses.