Health – Page 7 – Slugger O'Toole

The solution to hospital bed crises: not necessarily more beds

Turgon on January 20, 2012, 10:29 pm | Readers 708

The problems surrounding the Emergency Department at Antrim Area Hospital have made the news several times this week and led to one general practitioner stating that he would not want to go there as a patient (well no one actively wants to be an A+E patient as no one wishes ill health on themselves but his point is well made). There are actually two different problems regarding A+E departments which have occurred in the last few weeks. They often occur …

Why is it so difficult to downgrade local hospitals?

Turgon on December 24, 2011, 2:48 pm | Readers 138

The response to the Compton Report has thus far been remarkably low key. In part this may be because the Report is so comprehensive and so well argued, backed up by studies and statistics at every turn. Furthermore it says very little that anyone with any significant interest in health policy has not known for years. Possibly (and depressingly) one of the other reasons is that the Report carefully avoided stating which acute hospitals should be downgraded. It seems pretty …

Waiting for Godot: Northern Ireland’s health care

Turgon on December 7, 2011, 11:09 pm | Readers 28

Waiting for Godot, one of Samuel Beckett’s greatest works, documents Vladimir and Estragon’s fruitless wait for the eponymous Godot. At times waiting for health reform in Northern Ireland has been rather like Beckett’s play: lots of promises that it is about to happen but nothing ever does. In 1966 there was apparently a plan to have six main hospitals for Northern Ireland and most of the reviews subsequently have suggested that as the optimal number of acute hospitals. Throughout Direct …

Lagan Valley A+E hours reduced

Turgon on August 2, 2011, 5:13 pm | Readers 33

The first example of consolidation of hospital services has now occurred with the reduction in the opening hours of Lagan Valley’s A+E department. This has produced some comment from the local council but possibly a more measured reaction than might have been expected. The Belfast Telegraph has a typically hysterical headline (not on line) about a bleeding woman sent away from A+E – later discovered to be a lady with a cut finger who was sent to the Royal for …

Edwin Poots to reform NI health care?

Turgon on June 8, 2011, 10:19 pm | Readers 8

Edwin Poots was a fairly competent if at times somewhat undistinguished minister in the last Stormont executive. Since, taking on the Health portfolio, however, there are signs he has started to up his game to a marked extent. Initially he made the politically expedient choice as expected by all and gave the go ahead to the new Cancer Centre in Altnagelvin. Few surprises there. The News Letter today reported the BMA calling for a radical reduction in the number of …

Altnagelvin goes ahead, but at what price?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 26, 2011, 8:35 am | Readers 7

Health Minister Edwin Poots said on Monday: Making a decision on the proposed radiotherapy unit at Altnagelvin was my first priority as Health Minister. It was vital that I took the time to look at all the evidence properly to reach the right decision for the right reasons. I have now thoroughly reviewed all the relevant information and I have decided to make the necessary funding – both current and capital – available. This amounts to £56million being made available …

Poots gives go ahead to Altnagelvin Cancer Centre

Turgon on May 23, 2011, 1:06 pm | Readers 9

Edwin Poots has announced the go ahead of the Altnagelvin radiotherapy centre. This reverses the decision by Michael McGimpsey to block the centre just before the elections. The new centre is envisaged to open in 2016. TurgonThis author has not written a biography and will not be writing one.

“What I can’t do is give a cast-iron guarantee…”

Pete Baker on May 17, 2011, 1:33 pm | Readers 3

The new Northern Ireland Health Minister, the DUP’s Edwin Poots, has re-introduced doubt about the proposed radiotherapy unit at Altnagelvin when, during the election campaign, the NI First and deputy First Ministers’ had promised certainty. From the BBC report Mr Poots said he hoped to make a decision in the next few weeks. “It’s top of my in-tray. What I can’t do is give a cast-iron guarantee without having seen all the documentation and papers around this issue,” said Mr …

“It is unacceptable for the Minister and his Department to suggest…”

Pete Baker on March 31, 2011, 3:08 pm | Readers 10

Possibly related to the point Mick was making… The former leader of Sinn Féin in the Dáil, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, TD, has taken exception to part of a statement by Irish Health Minister, James Reilly, TD, committing the Irish Government to work in partnership with their Northern Ireland counterparts on the development of a new radiotherapy unit at Altnagelvin. Although, the same lines were first delivered by Labour TD, Kathleen Lynch, on the Minister’s behalf, in the Dáil on 24th March without …

“We are going to proceed with the Altnagelvin extension [] and that’s the end of the matter.”

Pete Baker on March 29, 2011, 9:31 pm | Readers 39

The Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers’ separately declared commitment to reverse the NI Health Minister’s decision to postpone the funding of a new radiotherapy unit at Altnagelvin hospital is yet another populist move without regard to budgetary considerations – this time just ahead of an election. It also undermines the position of the smaller parties at the NI Executive table and the authority of the Executive itself. From the BBC report Mr Robinson said it could be overturned on the …

McGimpsey’s Health Service

Turgon on March 26, 2011, 10:59 am | Readers 30

When Michael McGimpsey announced that the new radiotherapy centre in Altnagelvin would not be built for the meantime there was the predictable outcry from patients’ groups, the Western Trust etc. Martina Anderson denounced the decision as political: that much is to be expected; Anderson’s role has often seemed to be to play the republican representative for the the hardline Derry segment of Foyle’s republicans. To have the Deputy First minister, Martin McGuinness denounce the decision as sectarian was possibly somewhat …

Fighting bowel cancer, or ‘jam on your eclairs’…

Mick Fealty on March 9, 2011, 11:38 am | Readers 6

Interesting series of YouTubes from Podge and Rodge tackling the vexed question of bowel cancer… And rightly, IMHO, getting it all out in the open…. Put together by the Irish Cancer Society, so don’t hestitate to contact them if you;re affected by this condition… And in Northern Ireland you can find the right contact through the Northern Ireland Cancer Network… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and …

The breakdown of health service cuts revealed

Brian Walker on February 23, 2011, 10:04 am | Readers 5

The scale of cuts to the Health Service, – a service that’s supposed to be ring fenced but now subject to lower rates of investment – is revealed by a union-sponsored website False Economy and extracted by the Guardian’s Data Blog. The info is collated from FoI requests throughout the UK . A long scroll down reveals the damage to NI services – a total of over 2,500 posts. They included 280 posts in the ambulance service Of these at …

“Next time they might try openness and joined-up thinking”

Pete Baker on January 15, 2011, 4:37 pm | Readers 3

I was somewhat blunter in my initial assessment of the Northern Ireland Executive’s spending plans, but I get the impression Patrick Murphy, in The Irish News, agrees. Their budgetary plans tell us three things – departments do not talk to each other, few of them know what a customer is and most ministers do not expect to retain their posts after the election. The information you wanted to know – details of how the cuts will affect you – will …

Bullshit, and joined-up government…

Pete Baker on January 14, 2011, 3:04 pm | Readers 6

Some four weeks after the departmental allocations were agreed and all Northern Ireland Executive departments have, to a greater or lesser extent, finally published their spending plans. Don’t worry, though. There’ll be an extra week of that public consultation… Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Finance Minister, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, is complaining that the UK Treasury has “swiped” £300million of NI departments’ yearly underspend – rather than allowing it to be drawn down in the subsequent year. The NIO has issued a statement …

“His position remains that the evidence of efficacy and the scientific basis of homeopathy is highly questionable”

Pete Baker on July 28, 2010, 2:17 pm | Readers 6

‘His position’ in the title would be that of the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser. But, as we know, the scientific illiteracy that prevails in the House of Commons is legendary. And, regardless of their Chief Scientific Adviser’s position, the UK Government have published their response [pdf file] to the Commons Science and Technology Committee’s Report, Evidence Check on Homeopathy. Here are the main paragraphs 4. The Department sets out policy guidance and recommendations, and asks that the local NHS implements that policy in the way that is most …

The strange case of Ex-Dr Wakefield and the MMR vaccine…

Sharon Fennell on May 25, 2010, 10:25 am | Readers 142

Andrew Wakefield is the ex-doctor, whose scant regard for scientific accuracy or ethics has led to him being struck off the medical register. Yesterday the General Medical Council (GMC) found him guilty of serious professional misconduct, having found him guilty last January of having “showed a callous disregard” for the suffering of children, saying also that he had “abused his position of trust.” Wakefield has caused untold harm to autistic people by leading those falsely describing the condition as vaccination …

Service not available in Northern Ireland

Ní Dhuibhir on May 21, 2010, 5:15 pm | Readers 11

Channel 4’s decision not to broadcast the Marie Stopes ‘Are you late?’ TV advert in Northern Ireland raises questions about what information it is criminal to distribute here. The Chief Executive of Marie Stopes International told the Guardian that ‘the advertising of abortion facilities, their contact numbers or addresses is against the law in Northern Ireland.’ The fact that the advert in question does not contain the word ‘abortion’, and is for an organisation that provides a wide range of …

Recessions – good for your health?

Mack on April 21, 2010, 5:24 pm | Readers 1

A couple of weeks back, writing in the Sindo, Gene Kerrigan made the not unreasonable assertion that severe recessions cause unnecessary deaths. We saw all this before. During the Eighties, savage cuts inflicted lasting pain and cost lives — someone had to pay for the crisis. Meanwhile, known to the establishment — who were up to their necks in it — the fortunes of the elite were safeguarded using massive tax frauds. An article in yesterdays Guardian refutes this – …

“have you seen The Wire?”

Pete Baker on April 7, 2010, 1:06 am | Readers 1

Bobballs’ first blog round-up for the Belfast Telegraph included a suitably sceptical post by Keith Belfast in the face of apparent local political unanimity in support of the banning of mephedrone – despite actual evidence of harm from the drug’s use being largely absent and amid concerns about political interference in the work of the advisory council on the misuse of drugs. At his Guardian blog Roy Greenslade picks up on a column by Simon Jenkins in the same paper …